QWEST.NET can you fix your nameservers

Thu Sep 15 22:07:50 UTC 2016

On Thu, Sep 15, 2016 at 2:45 PM, Mark Andrews <marka at isc.org> wrote:
>
> Aaron,
>        How am I supposed to know which DNS vendor to contact?  DNS
>

Sorry--I should have added a /sarcasm tag.  :)

> The best way to get this fixed would be for nameservers to be checked
> for protocol compliance, by the parent zone operators or their
> proxies regularly.  That the child zone operator be given a short
> (< 3 months) to fix it then all zones with that server get removed
> from the parent zone until the server is fixed (apply the final
> step in the complaints proceedures from RFC 1033) which forces the
> owner of the zone to fix the server or to move to someone who follows
> the protocol.  The servers for new delegations be checked immediately
> and the delegation not proceed unless the delegated servers are
> protocol compliant.
>

Seems a bit harsh, but I'm new to the conversation.  What is being out of
compliance actually hurting other than the nameserver operator and the
zones they host?

> My bet is the DNS vendor has issued a update already and that it
> hasn't been applied.  If not Qwest can inform them that their product
> is broken.  Fixing this should be about 10 minutes for the DNS
> vendor then QA.
>

Yeah, but the business upgrade cycles are the killer.
Why dedicate resources to fix it unless there's a pretty clear
line-of-sight to lost profits?
That's why so many of my clients refuse to upgrade away from XP.  It still
works for what they basically need, and it's not really impacting their
profit in a way the CFO can directly see.  (i.e. he doesn't see people like
me who will walk out of a dental office and never come back when I see a
2-plus-year-out-of-date XP machine handling patient information.)

I'm sure the same is happening in a large bureaucracy like Qwest.

Maybe you're right with a harsher penalty.  Be standards compliant or
you'll get a warning, then be cut off.

> If you (collectively) haven't already checked your servers go to
> https://ednscomp.isc.org and check your servers.  While you are
> there look at some of the reports.
>

Tested.  I'm compliant.  I definitely think more comprehensive tools that
are easily accessible to admins and CFOs would help.

For example, when I explain various zone-related things to CFOs, I'll use
http://intodns.com/.  It's sorta flashy, and contains some sorta helpful
information that a CFO can sorta understand.

And a big red 'X' when someone is wrong.

Unfortunately it doesn't do DNSSEC.  For that, there's another tool.
...and if you want EDNS testing, there's your tool.

A tool that tests compliance for everything and spits out errors, warnings,
and recommendations might go a long ways towards getting people to solve
the problem.

Just my $0.02.

Nice graphs by the way.

-A