nikolas
@rcn.com
| reply to k1ll3rdr4g0n
Re: Earthlink Out(r)age
said by k1ll3rdr4g0n  : Why did Earthlink even manage the DNS in the first place? I happen to agree with you that that is not a good idea - but one can make an argument that it makes sense to have a major provider manage outside DNS (which should result in a faster DNS response time etc. etc.). And I cannot really blame people who made that decision - it was done many years ago, in the dialup era (the company got domain registration and hosting, and web and email hosting AND a couple of dialup accounts - the most important part of the deal at the time! - through Mindspring for a reasonable price).
said by k1ll3rdr4g0n : You should be able to change DNS servers. If you couldn't that should have been a red flag to grab your auth code, unlock the domain and move to a different registrar. Once again, I could not agree more, we should be able. Emphasis on SHOULD. And it was a red flag. I had immediate discussions with Earthlink and Network Solutions (our new registrar of choice) how to proceed with the domain SOA and DNS move. The tech from Network Solutions happened to have previous experience with the company that was in the same situation as us - domain registered through Earthlink, with underlying ownership uncertainties - and, according to him, their outage was 72 hours. (Having spoken with Earhlink techs at the time, I believed it - they were less than willing to facilitate SOA transfer, to say the least.) Now it looks like we will have to do it on an emergency basis - I really do not see Earthlink staying in business much longer.
Look, this thread is really about Earthlink - not about my company. (I feel we are hijacking the thread.) Whatever we did or did not do is IMHO beside the point - the fact that Earthlink, an ISP and service provider, did not have (1) adequate backup generators and/or (2) at least one failover location - and thus allowed itself to have nationwide outage lasting six hours is a HORRIBLE statement about their business. |
