Re: [cobalt-users] Apache not responding

[Jeff Lasman <jblists@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Jens Kristian Søgaard wrote:

> DNS management is the one thing that seems to be giving most of the Cobalt
> RaQ customers a hard time. And not only at startup - but also several times
> later in their business lives as hosting providers. I do not understand, why
> they do not outsource DNS issues to their ISP or a company like yours (or
> ours). Much downtime can be avoided that way.

People just don't understand the complexity and importance of DNS.

<vent>
We got a call at the end of the year from one of our clients; effective
at the end of the year they weren't using us as their secondary DNS
anymore (we charged 30c each, they found a place that would do it for
$50 flatrate).  Price was the issue, and they wanted to leave us by the
end of the year.

I left it running (no harm) until I got back from Idaho, and then on
January 8th checked some of their whois records; their sites were still
pointing at us.

"Are you sure you don't need us for secondary DNS anymore?" I asked.

The lady replied that she was absolutely certain.  I explained to her
that her root records were still pointing to us; she assured me she'd be
changing them.

We removed their secondary references from our /etc/named.conf file.

Weeks later, they're still pointing everyone toward us as their
secondary for hundreds of domains.

I'll give them a call on Monday.  If they're still using us, I'll
reinstall their zones in /etc/named.conf and bill them.  If they're not,
I'll reconfigure our secondary servers to no longer allow recursive
inquiries.  When their customers can no longer reach their sites, then
maybe they'll figure out they haven't learned yet how to use their
$50/month secondary provider.
</vent>

Jeff
-- 
Jeff Lasman <jblists@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
nobaloney.net
P. O. Box 52672
Riverside, CA  92517
voice: (909) 787-8589  *  fax: (909) 782-0205