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I have four nameservers registered for a domain:

ns1.primary-nameserver.net
ns2.primary-nameserver.net
a.ns.secondary-nameserver.net
b.ns.secondary-nameserver.net

How can I find out how much usage each nameserver is getting? Or is it safe to assume that it's 25% to each?

Update

I don't control the nameservers, they are provided by third party suppliers like DNS Made Easy, Zerigo, Route 53, etc. I am trying to establish whether all listed nameservers are used equally.

user114671
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  • Do you control the nameservers? If so, what resolver is each of them running? – MadHatter Dec 05 '12 at 14:23
  • No I don't control the nameservers, they are provided by third party suppliers like DNS Made Easy, Zerigo, Route 53, etc. I was trying to establish whether all listed nameservers are used equally. – user114671 Dec 05 '12 at 14:30
  • I understand the question, but if you don't control the nameservers, and if you can't get this information from those who do (and if you could you already would be), what are you hoping we'll say? – MadHatter Dec 05 '12 at 14:32
  • @MadHatter I'd like to know if all listed nameservers are used equally. Even if there isn't a tool to show this, is this a fair assumption. – user114671 Dec 05 '12 at 14:38
  • @user114671 There is really no way to answer that question. The DNS server used will be whatever the client resolver picks out of the list of options the root/GTLD/etc. server gives it, and there's a lot of hand-waving vagary in the DNS RFCs. You can assume that with `N` name servers and the load on each will be roughly proportional to `1/N`, but there is a LOT of slop in the actual number. – voretaq7 Dec 06 '12 at 03:11

2 Answers2

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If your dns servers are running bind you can enable, if not already done so, the statistics file.

This can be done with putting statistics-file “/var/stats/named.stats”; in the global section of your named.conf. After you have restarted your bind you can run rndc stats and it will show you the statistics of the server.

So to get the usage percentage of your namesservers you have to collect all the rndc stats outputs and calculate it yourself.

teissler
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  • Thanks, but I don't control the nameservers, they are provided by third party suppliers. I will edit the question to make this clearer. – user114671 Dec 05 '12 at 14:31
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If you don't control the name server there is really no way to determine this (other than asking the company that DOES control the name server to give you a query count).

Many companies that provide DNS hosting as a specific service will also provide query counts as part of a reporting dashboard (and some that provide what you might call "upscale" or "specialty" DNS hosting charge you based on the number of queries, and put it right on your bill for that extra pain-and-suffering touch).

voretaq7
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