Re: [ncc-services-wg] dnsmon - why?

["Henk Uijterwaal (RIPE-NCC)" <]

Hank,

> Continuing in my previous view of examining RIPE services and alternatives
> that are available:
>
> At the RIPE meeting, I saw http://dnsmon.ripe.net.
>
> How is this different than:
> http://www.caida.org/cgi-bin/dns_perf/main.pl and
> http://www.cymru.com/DNS/dns.html

First of all, the main difference is that dnsmon monitors root server and
ccTLD server performance from approximately 60 different locations all
over the world.  The two projects you mention, only monitor performance
from 1 or a few points (3 or 4, all in the Western US), in the world.
With one measurement point, it is impossible to determine if any problem
is caused near the measurement point, somewhere in between or near the
root server. With 60 measurement points, one can easily determine if a
non-responding root server is caused by problems near the monitoring
point, the intermediate networks or near the root server.  The
measurements done around the time of the slammer worm confirm this.

There is also the issue of support.  One of the project you mention, is
done by a University professor in his spare time, with very little
funding, lots of other obligations and no guarantee that the project can
continue for any time in the future.

OTOH, members of the DN* WG have indicated interest in a service that
monitors their services 24/7 on a professional basis.  The RIPE NCC
already has staff and a highly automated system, to maintain a measurement
infrastructure. Adding dnsmon to their tasks, involves very little
additional work or other resources. Related to this, several TLD's are
prepared to provide a 'substantial share' of the costs because publishing
the data by the NCC is in their interest as well as in the interest of the
RIPE community.

Henk

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That problem that we weren't having yesterday, is it better? (Big ISP NOC)