NETWORK WORLD NEWSLETTER: STEVE TAYLOR AND JOANIE WEXLER ON WIDE AREA NETWORKING 12/02/04 Today's focus: DNS appliances could improve net uptime
Dear [EMAIL PROTECTED], In this issue: * Your growing dependence on DNS * Links related to Wide Area Networking * Featured reader resource _______________________________________________________________ This newsletter is sponsored by Adtran New WAN access solution lowers overall connectivity costs! The new NetVanta 1224STR from ADTRAN combines a modular 56k to dual T1 DSU/CSU, 24-port managed Layer 2 Ethernet switch, full-featured IP router, stateful inspection firewall, VPN, and in a compact 1U chassis. Available at a price well below competing multi-box solutions, the NetVanta 1224STR will change the way you connect! Register to win a NetVanta 1224STR now!! http://adserver.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=89107 _______________________________________________________________ COMPREHENSIVE ENTERPRISE STORAGE INFORMATION Go to NW Fusion's Research Center for detailed information on enterprise storage. Find the latest breaking news, case studies, white papers, commentary, reviews and more. Topics on how ILM impacts your storage strategy, how to migrate to a new tape drive, how to link SAN islands and more are all found in the Research Center. Click here: http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=89347 _______________________________________________________________ Today's focus: DNS appliances could improve net uptime By Steve Taylor and Joanie Wexler As you likely know, the DNS is the network function that translates domain names (like www.nwfusion.com) to IP addresses (like 65.214.57.165). And though this service is sometimes supplied a few organizational steps away from corporate telecommunications, it still has a profound impact on perceived network reliability. For instance, if a user asks his browser to go to www.ebay.com and gets the infamous "page not found" message, the user considers this a network failure. The fact that your physical layer all the way through your IP network might be working fine is seldom, if ever, apparent. All users know is that they can't get to the eBay site - even though they might have been successful had they entered http://66.135.192.87/. One mode of thinking, as Web sites and, in fact, virtually all corporate network services become increasingly dependent on DNS services, is that DNS is becoming a core network service like routing or switching. As such, perhaps DNS should move away from general-purpose servers, often managed by multiple internal groups, and into a more reliable form factor that is easier to secure and manage. This could minimize service downtime. Historically, as pointed out in a recent article posted at Webtorials, "The DNS Appliance Imperative," authored by DNS aficionado Cricket Liu, vice president of architecture at Infoblox, various networking functions have moved from general-purpose processors to dedicated appliances. One of the most dramatic instances of this is the router. Originally, in the infancy of the Internet, routing took place in a network interface inside a Unix workstation. However, as the routing market matured, one achieved higher performance at a lower price with specialized systems purpose-built for routing. In more recent years, we've seen this same approach applied to traffic management gear and firewalls. So perhaps it makes sense to move DNS to a specialized appliance, as well. Hint: Want to know exactly how often your perceived network failure is a DNS failure? Find out the IP address of a few network sites that you frequent, and do a "ping" of the site to determine the IP address. Next time the site is "down," try entering the IP address of the site rather than the domain name. Odds are pretty good that you'll get a response. RELATED EDITORIAL LINKS "The DNS Appliance Imperative" http://www.nwfusion.com/nlwan869 Infoblox http://216.74.16.48/ Infoblox targets corporate IP services Network World ISP News Report Newsletter, 11/03/03 http://www.nwfusion.com/newsletters/isp/2003/1103isp1.html _______________________________________________________________ To contact: Steve Taylor and Joanie Wexler Steve Taylor is President of Distributed Networking Associates and Publisher/Editor-in-Chief of Webtorials.Com. For more detailed information on most of the topics discussed in this newsletter, connect to Webtorials.Com <http://www.webtorials.com/>, the first Web site dedicated exclusively to market studies and technology tutorials in the Broadband Packet areas of Frame Relay, ATM, and IP. He can be reached at <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Joanie Wexler is an independent networking technology writer/editor in California's Silicon Valley who has spent most of her career analyzing trends and news in the computer networking industry. She welcomes your comments on the articles published in this newsletter, as well as your ideas for future article topics. Reach her at <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. _______________________________________________________________ This newsletter is sponsored by SBC Dialing for Dollars CRATE & BARREL'S VOIP MOVE NETS SAVINGS AND FLEXIBILITY An apples-to-apples comparison showed that a centralized, software-based, IP-based platform could provide significant cost savings and productivity benefits over a comparable, traditional PBX system. Download whitepaper now, click here http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=88832 _______________________________________________________________ ARCHIVE LINKS Archive of the WAN newsletter: http://www.nwfusion.com/newsletters/frame/index.html _______________________________________________________________ FEATURED READER RESOURCE COMPREHENSIVE ENTERPRISE STORAGE INFORMATION Go to NW Fusion's Research Center for detailed information on enterprise storage. Find the latest breaking news, case studies, white papers, commentary, reviews and more. Topics on how ILM impacts your storage strategy, how to migrate to a new tape drive, how to link SAN islands and more are all found in the Research Center. Click here: <http://www.nwfusion.com/topics/storage.html> _______________________________________________________________ May We Send You a Free Print Subscription? You've got the technology snapshot of your choice delivered at your fingertips each day. Now, extend your knowledge by receiving 51 FREE issues to our print publication. Apply today at http://www.subscribenw.com/nl2 International subscribers click here: http://nww1.com/go/circ_promo.html _______________________________________________________________ SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES To subscribe or unsubscribe to any Network World e-mail newsletters, go to: <http://www.nwwsubscribe.com/Changes.aspx> To unsubscribe from promotional e-mail go to: <http://www.nwwsubscribe.com/Preferences.aspx> To change your e-mail address, go to: <http://www.nwwsubscribe.com/ChangeMail.aspx> Subscription questions? Contact Customer Service by replying to this message. This message was sent to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please use this address when modifying your subscription. _______________________________________________________________ Have editorial comments? 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