Book Image

Mastering Linux Network Administration

By : Jay LaCroix
Book Image

Mastering Linux Network Administration

By: Jay LaCroix

Overview of this book

Linux is everywhere. Whether you run a home office, a small business, or manage enterprise systems, Linux can empower your network to perform at its very best. Armed with the advanced tools and best practice guidance of this practical guide, you'll be able to mold Linux networks to your will, empowering your systems and their users to take advantage of all that Linux-based networks have to offer. Understand how Linux networks function and get to grips with essential tips and tricks to manage them - whether you're already managing a networks, or even just starting out. With Debian and CentOS as its source, this book will divulge all the details you need to manage a real Linux-based network. With detailed activities and instructions based on real-world scenarios, this book will be your guide to the exciting world of Linux networking.
Table of Contents (17 chapters)
Mastering Linux Network Administration
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Index

Creating redundant DHCP and DNS servers


In Chapter 6, Configuring Network Services, we set up DHCP and DNS servers. This is great, but unfortunately there's one major problem. Either one is a single point of failure. If the DHCP server were to go down, new devices wouldn't be able to receive an IP address, and clients that are currently connected will drop off the network as their current IP lease expires. If the DNS server were to go down, clients wouldn't be able to reach destinations by the hostname. Depending on the scope of your network, this downtime might be hard to deal with, so having redundancy for these services may be a good idea.

With a DHCP server configured for redundancy with another server, it will synchronize its list of IP addresses that were issued, and each will detect if the other stops responding. In this case, the secondary would take over the task of issuing new IP addresses. With DNS, it's just a matter of adding another DNS server on your network, but I'll talk...