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We want to setup our own public DNS server and offer it to clients as a service. DNS server obviously needs to be setup on an IP address and this IP address setup on many of our clients machines/networks.

I can see a risk that hosting company allocates IP address for us but then for whatever reason we are required to change that IP. (e.g. hosting provider goes bust etc.)

How can we make sure that IP address is given to us without risking that in the event of hosting company failure we would have to contact all our clients and setup different DNS IP address?

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There are some more significant issues to address such as only having one server on one network, that's not a very reliable service to offer clients. –  Steve-o Oct 8 '12 at 19:59
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3 Answers

up vote 3 down vote accepted

Honestly, if you have to ask this, you aren't ready to host a publicly-used DNS service.

You can get blocks of IPs assigned if you need a large block. I believe the smallest you can get now is generally a /24 from RIPE/ARIN/whatever. If you can't justify the need for this many IPs, you're probably going to need to "buy" one or more in smaller blocks from your ISP.

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From RIPE, since they ran out of IPv4 addresses, you will not even get your /24. –  bortzmeyer Oct 10 '12 at 20:21
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You contact your Regional Internet Registry and find out their procedure for obtaining provider-independent (portable) IP addresses.

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And remember than in several regions (APNIC, RIPE), IPv4 PI addresses are no longer allocated. –  bortzmeyer Oct 10 '12 at 20:22
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Another option is out-of-bailiwick (glueless) name server delegation. In this option you don't priovide IP's to your clients. Only name server names.

For example:

Your NS servers:

a.dns.example.pl IP: 300.300.300.300

b.dns.example.pl IP: 400.400.400.400

For your clients:

otherexample.pl NS a.dns.example.pl

otherexample.pl NS b.dns.example.pl

In this configuration is a lot easier to change your NS IP addresses (for example when changining datacenters).

BUT: gluelessness is danger and for many incorrect DNS configuration. This is simply another option to PI address allocations mentioned in other answers. So you must decide yourself.

DJB about gluelessness http://cr.yp.to/djbdns/notes.html#gluelessness

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