Gyro DNS: Resilient DNS for Your Domains in Two Countries

Gyro DNS is our managed DNS service that publishes your domain records on name servers in two different countries. One name server runs in Istanbul, the other in Germany. If one of them becomes unreachable, the other keeps answering queries. Here is what Gyro DNS offers, who gets it for free and how to get started.

Why a separate DNS service?

Many websites keep their DNS records on the same server that hosts the site. That is convenient, but when the server is under maintenance or fails, every record of the domain stops answering, not only the website. Email, subdomains and services on other servers are affected too. We explain this in What is DNS and why do name servers matter?.

Gyro DNS removes this dependency: your records are published independently of your hosting server, on name servers in two countries.

What you get

• Two name servers in two countries: ns1.gyrodns.net in Istanbul and ns2.gyrodns.net in Germany.
• One-click DNSSEC: sign your zone from the client area; the DS record for your registrar is ready to copy.
• Health-checked records: if your primary server stops responding, the record switches to a backup IP automatically. See health-checked DNS failover.
• API, CLI and Terraform: manage zones and records with the Gyro API, the gyro CLI and our Terraform provider. Examples in Managing DNS with Terraform and the API.
• Common record types: A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, TXT, SRV, CAA, ALIAS, NS and PTR, up to 1,000 records per zone.
• Easy migration: import a BIND zone file from your current provider and export it whenever you like.
• cPanel zones included: the zone of your cPanel hosting account is already available on Gyro DNS. Point your name servers to Gyro DNS and keep managing records in cPanel.

Plans and pricing

The Free plan is available to customers with an active hosting or server service, one per customer. API, CLI, Terraform and DNSSEC are included in both plans. Longer billing cycles of the Pro plan are discounted. See current prices on the Gyro DNS page.

Getting started

1. Choose a plan on the Gyro DNS page.
2. Add your zone in the client area. Optionally upload the zone file from your previous provider.
3. Prove ownership: set your name servers to ns1.gyrodns.net and ns2.gyrodns.net, or add the TXT record shown in the client area to your current DNS.
4. Once verified, the zone goes live. Record changes usually reach both name servers within a minute.

Good to know

• Resolvers worldwide cache answers for the TTL of each record, so how fast a change reaches everyone depends on the TTL.
• Remove the DS record at your registrar before disabling DNSSEC, otherwise your domain stops resolving.
• If your service is cancelled, your zones keep answering for 7 more days so you can move the domain elsewhere.

Questions? Our support team is happy to help.