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

> Are these commercial offerings? We are a customer of UltraDNS/ 
> Neustar for
> DNS provision and it has never been suggested that we use their  
> monitoring
> services.

Has anyone asked for a quote?

> Any new service from Centr or ICANN/IANA would (a) take too long
> to set up, and (b) be subject to the same arguments you are making  
> against
> DNSMON.

I don't agree the same arguments could be made. But even if they  
were, that would be a problem for the organisation concerned. It  
wouldn't be the NCC's problem. :-)

> Sorry to worry you Jim ;-) What I was trying to point out was that  
> this is
> already an established service, widely used by the RIPE LIR  
> community and
> beyond. If we prevent it being extended to ENUM then we are left  
> without a
> viable way of monitoring those nameservers.

REALLY?!?! Are you seriously telling me that Nominet cannot monitor  
the UK's ENUM servers without buying DNSMON? I very much hope not....  
What did Nominet do to keep an eye on the .uk name servers before  
DNSMON came along?

Besides, whether DNSMON is widely used or not is beside the point.  
It's not a core NCC activity. If the NCC spins off DNSMON into an  
independent, self-funded entity, that's fine. But when DNSMON is part  
of a monopoly RIR and (partly?) funded from that monopoly's  
membership fees.... We can see where that is headed. And that's  
before we consider the competition aspects.

> I see a difference here. DNS hosting is an established field in which
> there are numerous providers. I am not aware of any other providers  
> of a
> service similar to DNSMON. It may be that the market is not mature  
> enough
> yet. In that case, if RIPE is the only place we can go to for this  
> then
> let us use it.

I've suggested a number of other possibilities. Perhaps they could be  
approached? There might be a stronger case for DNSMON if it could be  
shown that nobody else was willing or able to provide the service at  
a reasonable price.

Your comments about the market not being mature are very true Ian.  
This is all the more reason for the NCC to keep out. Its presence  
deters others from coming forward and prevents a free, competitive  
market from being established.

Your argument is a bit like saying everybody should support  
Manchester United because they're the biggest and most successful  
team with the best players. Which I know will annoy you Ian as your  
football affiliations rest elsewhere... :-)