Advice wanted on Nameserver switchover

[Stewart Dean]

Have two questions about the switchover of our external nameservers:

I'll call the old nameservers oldns1, oldns2, offsitens and the new nameservers 
newns1 and newns2

Q1: I had thought to add newns1&2 to the whois record, whether or not they are 
online.  Just as my offsitens gets all the traffic if we have a 
power/connectivity failure and go off the air, it would seem to me that if the 
newns1&2 aren't there, oldns1&2 plus offsitens will carry it as they always 
have.  Is there any problem with this?

So after the new WHOIS record comes into play, I can bring newns1&2 online and 
they'll take 2/5ths of the traffic, more or less.  If they seem to be running 
fine, I can disconnect oldns1&2 to see how the new stuff takes prime 
responsibility, but bring the  old stuff right back if there's a problem,
The two other switchover alternatives are 1) updating WHOIS to be either the new 
or old nameservers...which involves godawful latency  OR 2) playing games with 
the new nameservers so that they answer to the addresses of the old nameserver 
in addition to their native addresses...which could be messy and introduce 
weirdness.

Just adding the newns1&2 to the WHOIS seems to be a lot simpler and allow for a 
quick phasein and, if necessary, fall back.  Am I missing something?  Seems too 
easy to be true....  Finally, when the new stuff proved out, I'd just remove the 
oldstuff in WHOIS...

Q2;  The only messiness I can see about what I want to do is that SOA 
nameservers list in oldns1&2 and offsitens would be just them
and in the newns1&2, just those and offsitens....though I could include all in 
both.  I guess my questions is: If nameserver sourcing for the Internet is 
determined by the WHOIS record info being reflected in the root-servers, where 
does the SOA nameserver list get used?

Forgive me if I reveal collossal ignorance and misunderstanding........

-- 
"Grant us, in our direst need, the smallest gifts:
the nail of the horseshoe, the pin of the axle, the feather at the pivot point,
the pebble at the mountain's peak, the kiss in despair, the one right word.
In darkness, understanding."
Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold
-- 
Stewart Dean, Unix System Admin, Henderson Computer Center, Bard College,
Annandale, New York 12504 sdean at bard.edu voice: 845-758-7475, fax: 845-758-7035