Challenge
A hosting provider ran the DNS for its customers' domains on an aging system. DNS is what connects a domain name to a website; if it fails, every customer is unreachable.
The old system was difficult to maintain. Support staff edited files by hand, and a single mistake could cause an outage.
Approach
We designed a replacement built from standard, open-source software, spread across two cities.
- Design a cluster of servers in two cities, with separate roles for answering lookups and holding the records.
- Build it from open-source software in a standard, supportable way.
- Add a web-based tool so support staff manage domains without editing files.
- Migrate customer domains from the old system and test before the switch.
- Train the operations and support teams to run it.
Result
The provider has a DNS platform that survives the loss of a server or a whole site, and that its own staff can run.
- Customers moved with no action on their part.
- Fewer chances for a manual mistake.
- No software licensing to pay.
Our advice
The best infrastructure is the kind your own team can maintain. We aim to build systems that need us for little beyond updates.
Related service: Cloud computing.