IP Profiles

IP Profiles allow you to create a list of one or more IP addresses and then assign that list to one or more of your domains or hostnames.

What is the advantage of using IP Profiles with a single IP?

You could create an IP Profile that contains only one IP address if you have multiple domains or hostnames which all point to the same IP address. You can create a profile for this one IP address and then attach it to all your domains and hostnames. If the IP address changes, simply update the profile with the new IP address. Because of this one change every hostname and domain using that profile will be updated to the new IP address automatically.

How do multiple IP addresses work with IP Profiles?

If you are running multiple servers with unique IP addresses you can add these IP addresses into one IP profiles. Then you attach the one IP profile to a domain or hostname and it distributes connections equally across these IPs. This is referred to as round-robin address resolution.

Round-Robin for Email Servers

Members running multiple email servers may wish to take advantage of round-robin DNS capability by creating an IP Profile listing the IP addresses of their mail servers. This profile could then be attached to the hostname created for email requests.

Can I use one server two-thirds of the time?

To share the server load, using a two-thirds to one-third ratio, enter one IP Address on the list twice (2x) and a second IP address just once.

Round Robin DNS vs. Load Balancing

Round-robin is different than load balancing. Load balancing distributes connection loads across multiple servers, giving preference to those servers with the least amount of congestion. In round-robin, server distribution remains on a rigid "one IP address to one user" rotating basis, but it still evenly distributes your server requests among your servers.

Round-Robin DNS Advantages and Disadvantages

One of the best advantages of using round-robin DNS is being able to take one of the server systems "out of the loop" for maintenance. Removing one of the entries on the list will have no apparent effect to your visitors.

However, be aware that if one system on your server list fails, it will appear to the user as intermittent failure because they will connect to the inactive server only a portion of the time.