Re: root server load and dynamic updates.

["Eric A. Hall" <ehall@ehsco.com>]

> Bad .com performance bothers me, but it doesn't bother me as much as
> uninformed speculation. I'd like to see some measurements of how the
> .com servers are actually spending their resources.

I'd have to agree with this sentiment. Let's get some statistical data
before we stone them.

There's plenty of reasons why it could be Win2K but lots of reasons why
it wouldn't be responsible for a doubling of the load, which was the
original statement. MS says they've sold between 1-2 million units. Even
if they were all misconfigured, that wouldn't double the load.

I know that a lot of these systems are going into environments that are
not terribly well planned. The way the directory/domain model works with
Win2k, it is sometimes hard to get the desired results even when you
know what you're doing. In both cases, people will have private TLDs
which do not exist, or where the root is considered the "local" domain
for the directory, and so forth. This could easily cause a significant
amount of unnecessary traffic going to the TLD or root servers (requests
to create certain SRV records in the root, for example). But it wouldn't
double the traffic.

In short, I'd be inclined to believe that the traffic doubled from an
increase in the use of ICQ or spam rather than Win2k. Most likely it is
all of the above and more.

What do the stats show? Are we seeing waves of increased hits during
North American business hours (Win2k's principle market for the past
couple of months)? What kinds of queries? etc.

-- 
Eric A. Hall                                            ehall@ehsco.com
+1-650-685-0557                                    http://www.ehsco.com