Thanks to the flood of complaints about the technical accuracy of the
article, it has been updated:
"F root-servers.net was lame for two days because
it could not fetch [".com"] from NSI," he wrote.
"*MY* server was not sending fatally bad answers,
*THEIRS* were."
Several other system administrators also said that
the problem was caused by NSI and not by Vixie's
machine.
Holtzman and another NSI spokesman denied
yesterday that the problems were caused by NSI
or that they went beyond the F root server.
Small problems in the root servers, Holtzman
added, are "routine," and usually go unnoticed. "On
any given day, we have some kind of problem with
one of the root servers. It's fairly typical. This is
a little worse in that it's returning something, rather
than nothing."
David, since I'm pretty sure you're reading this list, will you please
stop spin doctoring and start doing your job?
Thank you.
When you're a publically traded company, your job becomes
to spin doctor it to make it not look like your fault.
It'll just take some press person calling the right people to
get what's going on.
Too bad people are more interested in their stock price and options
than making the world work for the rest of us.
- Jared
The response I got from Janet Kornblum also mentioned that
she's trying to find out exactly what happened...hopefully
that'll be possible.
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1998 12:13:45 -0800
From: "J.D. Falk" <jdfalk@cp.net>
To: Stephen Sprunk <stephen@sprunk.org>, nanog@merit.edu
Subject: Re: was i asleep when the gtld servers had the worse problem today?
> Thanks to the flood of complaints about the technical accuracy of the
> article, it has been updated:
The response I got from Janet Kornblum also mentioned that
she's trying to find out exactly what happened...hopefully
that'll be possible.
is it just me, or are people confused by the references to
f.root-servers.net (Paul Vixie's machine)
and
f.gtld-servers.net
which was also reported to have problems? I only read
"F server" in this article, but there are two of those, and
only f.root-servers.net is operated by volunteers, f.gtld-servers.net
is (AFAIK) operated by NSI...
--
J.D. Falk <jdfalk@cp.net> "A name indicates what we seek.
Special Agent In Charge (Abuse Issues) An address indicates where it is.
Critical Path, Inc. A route indicates how we get there."
-- Jon Postel (1943-1998)
Mathias Koerber | Tel: +65 / 471 9820 | mathias@staff.singnet.com.sg
SingNet NOC | Fax: +65 / 475 3273 | mathias@koerber.org
Q'town Tel. Exch. | PGP: Keyid: 768/25E082BD, finger mathias@singnet.com.sg
2 Stirling Rd | 1A 8B FC D4 93 F1 9A FC BD 98 A3 1A 0E 73 01 65
S'pore 148943 | Disclaimer: I speak only for myself
* Eifersucht ist eine Leidenschaft, die mit Eifer sucht, was Leiden schafft *
Is it just me, or does it appear that this type of confusion
could have easily been avoided, and NSI decided to not even
attempt to avoid it?
I'm usually the last person to run around spouting conspiracy
theories about Network Solutions, but this is getting silly.
is it just me, or are people confused by the references to
f.root-servers.net (Paul Vixie's machine)
and
f.gtld-servers.net
which was also reported to have problems? I only read
"F server" in this article, but there are two of those, and
only f.root-servers.net is operated by volunteers, f.gtld-servers.net
is (AFAIK) operated by NSI...
three things.
1. there is definitely some confusion here. my f (root-servers.net) was
lame (which is not fatal to resolvers who query it). NSI's f (gtld-
servers.net) was insane (which was fatal to resolvers who queried it.)
2. my F is not a volunteer. f.root-servers.net is a funded activity of ISC.
if my F is "volunteer" than every nameserver everywhere is a "volunteer."
3. holtzman has some other axe he's grinding, this is all smokescreening.
if i could just stop worrying about that, i could start being insulted
by his wierd comments here and elsewhere.
if i understand, f.root-servers.net was having problems doing an axfr
from a.root-servers.net. has anyone determined a technical reason why?
and could we all please skip the ad homina? thanks.
randy
1. there is definitely some confusion here. my f (root-servers.net) was
lame (which is not fatal to resolvers who query it). NSI's f (gtld-
servers.net) was insane (which was fatal to resolvers who queried it.)
Aren't NSI's nameservers running bind? If not, then that's scary.
If so, then why wouldn't they also become lame rather than insane?
Cheers,
Ray
It appears to be necessary to point out that, as always, I'm
only speaking on my own behalf. Not even my goldfish, Sammy,
who has been dead for over fifteen years, is interested in
taking a public stance on this one. Go figure.
Against who?
The only person who has been named here is Holtzman. And as far as I'm
concerned, since NetSol is providing a service which is vital to the
operation of the Internet (unless y'all want to start memorizing IPs),
discussion of their behavior when dealing with problems is *not* off-topic
here. As for what I've said being construed as an ad hominem, so be it. What
I've said about David Holtzman is *true*.
Every time one of these kinds of snafus happens and NSI denies it was their
fault, it reminds me of that scene from "Animal House" where the crowd
tramples the ROTC cadet who's shouting "All is well!"...
Spammers should be investigated by Ken Starr!
Dean Robb
PC-EASY computer services
(757) 495-EASY [3279]
Of course he (and NSI as a whole) has an axe to grind...they want to
dominate the Net the way MS does the desktop. Anything that might be
interpreted as incompetence on their part might scare the suckers who buy
their stock AND raise doubts in the minds of the folks who are allowing
them such a leading role in ICANN.
Public exposure of their frequent screwups would lead reasonable people to
think that they shouldn't be allowed near the Internet, which would hurt
their plans. Ergo, any mistakes are someone else's, not theirs.
Of course, an official explanation from NSI might disprove this theory, but
I've got money that says one isn't forthcoming (at least not a believable
one). Right now, NSI's credibility ranks right up their with Saddam
Hussein's.
Spammers should be investigated by Ken Starr!
Dean Robb
PC-EASY computer services
(757) 495-EASY [3279]
Every time one of these kinds of snafus happens and NSI denies it was
their fault, it reminds me of that scene from "Animal House" where the
crowd tramples the ROTC cadet who's shouting "All is well!"...
thanks for the technical analysis of the incident.
randy