[ncc-services-wg] Re: Allow DNSMON services to monitor ENUM domains

On Oct 8, 2007, at 11:16, Ian Meikle wrote:

> If the service is not provided by RIPE, who would provide it?
> Who else has the traffic measurement boxes so well
> distributed? Not to mention the professional resources and experience.

I believe Verisign uses its global DNS infrastructure to monitor the  
root servers, as do some of the other root service operators.  
[Besides the NCC. :-)] UltraDNS/Neustar monitor their global DNS  
platform. And I expect Afilias would be in a position to offer this  
service once their anycast infrastructure is fully deployed.  
Presumably these organisations would be prime candidates to offer a  
DNS monitoring service if there was a level playing field. CAIDA has  
monitoring boxes deployed all over the place, though they may be  
unable to get involved in commercial activities or deliver "service".  
Another possibility could be for CENTR to offer this service to its  
members. Maybe ICANN/IANA could do this? Shouldn't they be gathering  
statistics on the health of the DNS and keeping track of critical DNS  
infrastructure?

Your remarks about "professional resources and experience" are  
particularly troubling for me Ian. It can (and may well be argued)  
that the NCC's presence in this emerging market is stifling others  
from offering DNS monitoring services and creates an artificial  
barrier to entry. That makes it harder for a competitor to pay for  
equipment, staff and gain operational experience. And meanwhile the  
NCC has cherry-picked the best (and probably the richest) customers.

This is why I drew parallels with the NCC's DNS hosting service. In  
the early days of the net, it made sense for the NCC to host TLDs.  
Now it doesn't. So the NCC is gracefully exiting that "business".  
Entering the DNS monitoring business -- and watch the mission creep  
that's happened here! -- looks to be a repeat of those earlier well- 
meaning but misplaced intentions.