The RFC's require a second name server, and
the registrar asks for it, but who's going to
care really? If the primary name server goes
out, so do all other servers in the domain,
since it's all really just one computer.
Many people don't have totally redundant DNS because of this very reason. Some people have ns1 and ns2 point to the same IP/host, and that works fine. I would just make sure you somehow control whatever the 2nd ns is, so that you can be sure that nobody can answer before you about your DNS. That's why you have to change something.
What would you recommend?
I use
dns.he.net. It's free and it's good enough for casual work. You can set them up as secondary DNS:
- Secondary domains that disallow AXFR's will be deactivated until they have been validated.
You can validate the domain by selecting it from the "Slave domains for this account." (click on the (i)nformation icon) This will attempt to pull the zone from the specified nameserver(s). If it is successful, it will validate the domain and will start listening to your nameservers NOTIFY packets as well as making periodic checks (depending on your TTL).
I actually don't see why you wouldn't want to totally switch over to hosted. You get perks like full IPv6 and dynamic updates to hosts; my laptop is always updating it's DNS info so that I can make sure I can find it. It also uses UPNP to punch SSH ports out.
If you don't want to depend on an evil corporation after what MegaPath did to you, I understand. A friend may be the best way.
-Randall