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Re: AOL DNS - temporary resolution of problem

  • From: alex
  • Date: Fri Oct 16 23:44:17 1998

Wow. I thought originally that this was a hijack; good to see that it
wasn't.

The question that I have remaining is, "How'd this happen?"

How did the primary DNS mysteriously change?



On Fri, 16 Oct 1998, David Hares - AutoNet wrote:

> 
> At about noon today NetworkTwo (formerly Autonet) noticed heavy usage of
> our Internet links and DNS.  When we investigated we discovered what you
> already know ... someone pointed AOL's root server entry at us.  We
> contacted AOL about the same time they contacted us.  AOL asked us to load
> their primary zone file on our DNS, but it quickly became apparent that our
> upstream pipe and our DNS server could not handle the load.  We (AOL and
> N2) contacted NetworkTwo's upstream provider MichNet (aka Merit of
> [email protected] fame).  Merit loaned us their new, not yet in service, DNS
> server.  This was loaded with both the AOL and Autonet primary zones.
> Merit then hijacked the 206.88.0.x network and redirected it to their
> server, where AOL and Autonet are currently resolving.  Some of my clients
> are affected, but most have been pointed to other name servers.
> 
> The InterNIC folks predict it will take 18 hours for the root servers to
> be up to date.  We will monitor the situation throughout the weekend, and
> take apart this hack when the number of queries drops off.
> 
> On behalf of NetworkTwo, I'd like to thank the on call staff at Merit and
> AOL, all of whom pitched in totally professional way with time and
> equipment to solve this problem.  Thanks also to Goodnet (spelling?), a
> peer of AOL and MichNet, who offered equipment and bandwidth that we might
> have needed, but didn't. 
> 
> On a personal note, it's nice to find out that people can still work
> together in a crisis.  Now if we can only get NSI to secure the domain
> update process ...
> 
> With hopes for a calmer weekend,
> 
> Dave Hares 
> 
> --
> David L. Hares, Director of Network Engineering
> NetworkTwo Communications Group            Phone: (313) 995-6539
> 175 Jackson Plaza                          FAX  : (313) 995-6458
> Ann Arbor, MI  48106 (USA)                 Email: [email protected]
> 
> 

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