Passive delegations and records

A method for resolving domain names, comprising:

• receiving a nameserver record associated with a domain name, the nameserver record containing addresses of an active nameserver and a passive nameserver;
• determining if the active nameserver is reachable by contacting the active nameserver based on the address of the active nameserver in the nameserver record;
• and
• in response to determining that (i) the active nameserver is unreachable and (ii) the nameserver record does not include an address of an additional active nameserver, contacting the passive nameserver for resolving the domain name based on the address of the passive nameserver in the nameserver record.

A method for resolving domain names, comprising:

• transmitting domain name system (“DNS”) queries to the individual working nameservers included in a nameserver record associated with a domain name, the nameserver record also containing an address of a standby nameserver;
• determining a number of working nameservers that are not responding to the transmitted DNS queries;
• comparing the determined number of working nameservers that are not responding to the transmitted DNS queries to a threshold;
• and
• in response to determining that the number of working nameservers not responding to the transmitted DNS queries is above the threshold, contacting the passive nameserver for resolving the domain name based on the address of the passive nameserver in the nameserver record.