Who Speaks Authoritatively for Your DNS? The Answer Determines Whether You'll Suffer Connection Failures or Deliver Quick, Reliable Web ResponseRegistrars, Web Hosting Providers, ISPs, ASPs and e-Businesses Search for Ways to Protect Their Web EnterprisesSan Mateo, Calif. March 14, 2001 - The Domain Name System (DNS) touches virtually every Internet transaction including surfing, email, research, education and shopping and directly impacts Web customer satisfaction. But recent high-profile failures by DNS servers have revealed a previously overlooked problem with global implications - the vulnerability of DNS as a single point of failure. The underlying problem is this: the DNS infrastructure used worldwide on the Internet can't reliably handle the current volume of domain name queries - much less the additional volume that will be generated by rolling-out more Top Level Domains in the future. This isn't a new idea. The week of January 22 saw major DNS-related crises that had everyone buzzing about DNS performance and reliability problems. After all, if it happened to industry giants, it could happen to you - but sadly, not many companies are doing anything about it, and the few that try are soon discovering just how difficult and expensive it can be to fix this key Internet technology. The Ugly Truth About DNSThe problem is far worse than anyone suspected. In a traffic analysis done by the performance measurement company Keynote Systems, DNS-related errors were a significant cause of failed Internet connections. Keynote measured over 372 million connection attempts to 12,000 hosts during a four-week period and found that DNS was responsible for 29.0% of Web page download failures. 'DNS Lookup Failure' was second only to 'Connection Timed Out' as the cause of connection errors in the study. This under-recognized problem is a multi-million-dollar issue to e-commerce, and any other company relying on a Web presence. The question that needs answering is, "How can registrars, Web hosting providers, ISPs, ASPs, e-businesses, and registries operating TLDs deliver high-performance, reliable DNS service in order to protect their Web presence?" Michael Hoch, senior analyst at Aberdeen Group, commented, "For any Internet-related business, DNS is a fact of life. Enterprises and service providers need the same bulletproof guarantees of reliability and performance for their Internet operations that they have for their traditional network applications. Yet, as vital as DNS is to reliable Web operations, many companies cannot ensure its performance." A Single Point of FailureAs the technology that gives users access to Web content by resolving the name typed into a browser (www.yourbiz.com) to an IP address (112.34.567.88), DNS touches virtually every Internet transaction including surfing, email, research, education and shopping. But, as recent high-profile failures show, DNS problems can have global implications - because DNS is vulnerable as a single point of failure. This isn't surprising. After all, DNS service is so common, it's typically delivered for free by Web Hosting providers and ISPs - which rely on public-domain freeware called BIND (Berkeley Internet Name Domain) that is has become the de facto implementation of DNS worldwide. Unfortunately, current DNS systems have problems. Today's large, directory-based information-exchange applications - including e-commerce, transaction processing and supply chain solutions - generate countless DNS look-ups and fuel a potentially explosive problem. The Web's in a BINDIndustry sources estimate that, by 2003, the number of Internet domain names will increase exponentially from 34 million to 160 million. Yet, the current DNS deployments weren't built to handle this growth with high reliability and availability. Here are a few problems with today's DNS:
These problems are already striking at the heart of e-Businesses. Competing for user attention, Content Providers and e-Commerce sites are pressured to deliver the fastest and most reliable Web connections. And Service Providers, facing serious problems due to the sheer numbers of users and DNS requests, are being pushed to guarantee connection to their client's web sites. Aberdeen's Hoch says, "Most companies think they have DNS covered with their current approach. What they don't realize is that, with the very large growth of domain names expected in the next three years, these old approaches will quickly become inadequate." But no one has yet delivered mission critical DNS reliability with BIND-based DNS. The bottom line, then, is the growing realization that BIND is broken and that the technology itself actually needs more than repair - it needs a scalable replacement. Is Bulletproof DNS Possible?A number of alternative approaches have surfaced in recent years attempting to make DNS more reliable and available. Most are commercial attempts to "beef-up" BIND to address the performance, reliability and availability problems described above. But too much of what is wrong with the current system is inherent in BIND and the DNS system itself, and even the "better BIND" solutions are unable to cope with the instability and eccentricities of tens of thousands of flaky DNS servers in the global Internet environment. The alternative that shows the most promise for creating a fail-safe DNS resolution depends heavily on outsourcing - of both primary and secondary DNS, or of secondary DNS servers for fail-over. What outsourcing accomplishes that souped-up BIND solutions do not is shifting responsibility for DNS away from the public DNS environment. It allows a closed, controlled environment to speak authoritatively for your DNS. Managed DNS ServiceThe Holy Grail of today's increasingly stressed DNS world is a fail-safe Managed DNS Service, one that is 100% reliable and guaranteed by a Service Level Agreement (SLA). Such a service would solve DNS scalability, reliability, and performance problems, while providing all the tools and outsourced infrastructure needed to efficiently manage and operate DNS for very high volumes of queries and hundreds of millions of domains. Here are some key capabilities required of an outsourced, managed DNS service:
Aberdeen's Hoch says, "The managed DNS service offers a way for companies to see benefits today - in terms of propagation speed for changes in domain name data and high DNS reliability for significantly improving Internet connections - for re-evaluating their DNS, and to be prepared for tomorrow's increased DNS needs." The UltraDNS SolutionUltraDNS Corporation has responded to the DNS crisis by delivering all of the key capabilities required for a robust managed DNS service. By developing a proprietary, patent-pending software solution integrated with their own globally distributed network of high performance Internet domain servers, UltraDNS provides the industry's first and only 100% reliable and secure Managed DNS Service. ISPs, Registrars and other e-Businesses simply outsource their DNS name/IP address resolution to UltraDNS and the Company's platform insures that Internet connections are always available and always correct. "UltraDNS Corporation has targeted a first order Internet connection problem-one that most ISPs, Web hosters, Registrars and e-businesses are unaware they face, particularly in light of the anticipated growth in domains and users," says Hoch. "UltraDNS is the only vendor offering an outsourced, SLA guaranteed DNS solution that's not based on BIND and raises the bar for any competing managed DNS service offering."
About UltraDNS UltraDNS provides a range of global and local DNS solutions - both managed services and custom infrastructure - built on its unique Directory Services Platform and proprietary, patented technologies. Through its thousands of enterprise, service provider and TLD infrastructure customers, UltraDNS powers the resolution of over 15 million domains around the globe. UltraDNS has offices in California, Virginia, Arizona, Chicago and the UK. For more information please visit www.ultradns.com. # # # |