Database backed DNS Management Solutions

Wed Feb 4 03:52:44 UTC 2009

Dear NANOG:

I hope I can solicit some feedback from this venerable group. :-)

Currently, my group operates 16 BIND servers across 5 datacenters,
handling internal and external namespace duties. These servers are
responsible for both internal and external forward and reverse
name and IP spaces.

There are also a number of Windows AD servers that hold their own namespaces,
that the BIND servers slave from this info from, so names resolve between these 
domains. Windows AD forwards queries for internal zones it does not own
to the appropriate namespace holder. 

So Windows DNS server interoperability is a business requirement.

Some of these zones are dynamic, some are static. 
None of the dynamic zones are populated via DHCP, but by self-registration.

We have heretofore used some in-house scripts for managing this, but
obviously, the thought of keeping and managing this data in something
other than its current form has caught on in our minds, and 
so therefore we are looking at a proposal put forth, to replace all 
of our BIND servers with a PowerDNS infrastructure.

BIND has been the backbone of the Internet, and so many of us are 
wary of replacing BIND, when in essence, BIND itself is not the issue, 
nor is it broken.

Has anyone done any in house comparance of PowerDNS versus BIND-DLZ?
Googling has led to some useful info but no useful side by side
comparances that are not obviously partisan.

I favor something like ProBIND2, that keeps the data in the DB, but does not
tie the serving of the data, etc to anything other than BIND.

Any success/horror stories from implementing BIND management solutions is
very welcome.

If anyone has any success/horror stories about PowerDNS, BIND-DLZ, or 
a system like ProBind2 or NetDB (from Stanford) to manage BIND and its configurations
in a DB, I would be very interested in hearing them. :-)

Thank you.

Best Regards,
Ross S. Dmochowski
Sr. Linux Administrator
IGN/Gamespy/Fox Interactive Media
ross at ign.com