One link, Multiple IP addresses

[popeye]

I do not know which category this question belongs to but here it goes.
Is it possible to have a single link that tests the availibilty of a website and in case of failure to connect it tries to connect to a different website?

[Coditor]

Well, it doesn't belong in Javascript...

You could do it via PHP, try to open a socket to that IP address (port 80, HTTP). If it fails, try another one. If succesfull, redirect to that address.

Code: Select all

<?php
$serverList = array(
   "192.168.0.1",
   "10.0.0.6",
   "127.0.0.1",
);
foreach ($serverList as $ipAddress) {
   if (@fsockopen($ipAddress, 80, $errnr, $errmsg, 5)) {
      header("Location: " . $ipAddress);
      exit();
   }
}

echo "We are currently unable to forward you to the correct server. Please try again later";
?>


However, if you're talking about hosting a website on multiple servers as fallback, you should do it via a DNS RR (Round-Robin). Add multiple IP address to the www A record and every self-respecting browser will try each address until a connection can be established.

Coditor

[popeye]

This looks great. I think the alternative using the DNS sound more dynamic. I will give it a try. Thanks.