Basic setup example
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Basic setup example
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 Your company has an Internet web-server placed at your main site in Kyoto, Japan. Also in Kyoto is a DNS server on a separate computer running Simple DNS Plus from JH Software. You can find more information on Simple DNS Plus at http://www.simpledns.com. This Simple DNS Plus is configured to allow updates via TSIG dynamic DNS updates only.
 You have invested in a backup site in Dallas, Texas in case of failures. The web-server and DNS server run on the same hardware box. The DNS server is Simple DNS Plus using standard dynamic updates.
Both DNS servers have the DNS zone for the company domain name simplefailover.com configured as primary.  Simple Failover is placed on a computer in Copenhagen, Denmark. Simple Failover is continually polling your web-servers testing the availability of your web-servers and perform the failover updating if a disaster strikes. Simple Failover runs on a Windows XP Professional PC.
 The user in Darwin, Australia is representing a random visitor to your web-site.
Obviously all the elements in the setup could be placed anywhere in the world. The following describes the setup in each location.
Open Simple DNS Plus, click the Records button on the toolbar, select Tools, TSIG Dynamic Updates…, 
Click the Add… button. 
Enter the Key name and use the Generate button to create a Key value. In this example the pass-phrase tricky is provided. Click the OK button to generate and transfer the value to the Key value field. 
Click the Add… button and enter the company domain name. 
Click OK and continue with the preparation of the other DNS server in the setup.
Note: This update method is not recommended when performing updates over the Internet. This is for demonstration purposes only. Open Simple DNS Plus, click the Records button on the toolbar, right-click the zone name, select Properties… menu item. 
Select the Dynamic Updates tab. Insert a check-mark in the Accept Standard Dynamic Update Requests: field and select the radiobutton: Only from the following IP addresses / subnets: Click Add… and enter the IP address and 255.255.255.255 of the computer that runs Simple Failover. 
Click OK and continue the configuration in Simple Failover.
Click on the New Server Set icon on the toolbar and enter the necessary information in the appropriate fields. This example checks the connectivity to the two web-servers. Select HTTP (port 80) in the Server Type field. This tells Simple Failover to check a Web server.
Type www.simplefailover.com in the Domain name field. This must be a unique value in Simple Failover.
Click the Add… button and enter the IP address of the web server in Kyoto.
Click the Add… button again and enter the IP address of the web server in Dallas. Leave the default values in the rest of the fields on the Servers tab. 
Select the Update DNS tab.
Insert a check-mark in the field Update DNS (off=monitoring only).  Click the Add… button to configure the information for the DNS server in Kyoto.
In this example the Simple DNS Plus server is requiring authentication before performing the dynamic DNS updates. Read more in the section Simple DNS Plus - TSIG Signed Dynamic DNS Updates to setup the correct information in Simple DNS Plus. 
 Enter IP address of the DNS server in Kyoto. You can use the Look Up button to resolve the name of the server into an IP address.
 Select TSIG Signed Dynamic DNS Update (RFC2845) in the Update method field.
 The DNS server in Kyoto only perform dynamic DNS updates when the request is TSIG authenticated.
Enter thule in the Key name field, and enter the Key value as on the Simple DNS Plus server. 
 Add the record for the Dallas DNS server.
Back in the Server Set Properties / Update DNS dialog, click the Add… button again. In this example the DNS server on the Backup Site in Dallas uses standard dynamic DNS updates. Enter the IP address of the DNS server in Dallas, and select the Standard Dynamic DNS Update (RFC2136) in the Update method field. 
Click OK and Simple Failover begins monitoring. Status The connection to the Kyoto web server is fully functional. The result of the polls Simple Failover performs looks like this:
The Explorer pane shows that only the first responding server is tested. The last result was 200 OK and that the DNS servers already have the correct record to the web-server. When you click on the individual server, specific information is displayed in the Status pane about that server. 
The Activitivy Log tab shows what happens behind the scenes: 
Simple Failover has detected no failures with your systems for the moment. The result is an empty Problems tab. 
Connection failure The connection to the Kyoto web server is lost. Perhaps a mouse have chewed on and cut the network cable. The result of the polls Simple Failover performs now look like this :
Please note: The web server in Kyoto is in Failure state and the web server in Dallas is now responsible for the handling the users requests to your web-site. The status of the two DNS servers are Update succesful. The individual Server for the failing web server in Kyoto now displays the state: 
The Activitivy Log tab shows what happens behind the scenes. : 
And finally the Problems tab displays the problem. To get more information, you can right-click on the problem and receive more information from our Online Problem Knowledge-base on the Internet: 
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