Network Solutions is now in the wringer

Sean Donelan SEAN at SDG.DRA.COM
Sun Mar 28 12:20:41 UTC 1999

pceasy at norfolk.INfi.NET (Dean Robb) writes:
>So who has copies of the databases?  If NSI's master (the a-root?) is
>unavailable, new domains obviously wouldn't propagate, but how long can the
>other root servers go without getting an update?  Does the system as
>currently configured *require* some server somewhere to be the master and
>is there one that can take over if NSI's are toast?

It depends.  How's that for an ambigous answer.

Technically the other root servers can go for a long time (e.g. at least
until the sun engulfs the earth) without getting an update.  However,
there are other concerns beyond the scop of this list (social, political)
which may require the recovery take place sooner.

Fact of the matter, this is a lot like asking who has copies of
the 1-800 database in case something happens to St. Louis, MO or
who has copies of the ATM card database if something happens to
Secaucus, NJ.  The only answer you will get is there are "disaster
recovery plans," but the plans are confidential, proprietary, and
you generally can't see them.

How good are the plans, or do they really exist?  I'm afraid we
don't find out until something like Galaxy IV spins out of control
and the world discovers the backup plan involves a person going out
to each pager site in the country and manually re-pointing the dish
at a different satellite over the course of a week.
  Affiliation given for identification not representation

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