redirecting overseas requests to local servers

[D. Stussy]

On 4 Sep 1999, Mr Diddles wrote:
> I have as site that is located in the US.   We would like to create local
> copies for different locations around the world.  For example, South Africa,
> England, etc.  What I would like to do have anyone who goes to mysite.com be
> sent to mysite.co.local  where local is the area they come from.   Does
> anyone know how to do this?   Any places to look?  Thanks!!

You can't, by name.  By crafty address manipulation, you might be able to
simulate it:

	- Your domain hosts will have multiple addresses, one for each
geographic area, at least as far as the DNS is concerned.  Each host should
probably also have a unique hostname with a single A RR.  When a random
reference hits the multi-homed hostname, that system will usually be routed to
the host that is "closest"(@) to it, if that can be determined.

(@) - Closest as in the fewest number of HOPS, not necessarily closest in
geographic terms.

Example:  (I'm using "10-net" so no live data goes through)

domain.com	IN	SOA	etc....

		IN	A	10.1.1.1	;This is the "multi-homed"
		IN	A	10.2.2.2	;entry.  See below for each
		IN	A	10.3.3.3	;individual host's real name.
us		IN	A	10.1.1.1
uk		IN	A	10.2.2.2
oz		IN	A	10.3.3.3

Of course, with live IP addresses, none of these 3 hosts will be on the same
network, and hopefully, hosts in the "us" coverage area will be routed to the
"us" entry since that will probably be a shorter route (we hope).
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Note:  From the good old BBS days, it was often cheaper to call LONG DISTANCE
twice than it was to call into the local, toll range.  Sometimes, a similar
"thing" happens with Internet routing e.g. two local hosts could be 3 local
hops, but both happen to be 2 hops when considering their common routes to the
same host on the other side of the world!
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That is:  Creating your "virtual multi-homed host" out of a combination of your
real hosts will often, but not always, simulate your desired result by routing
distance manipulation.