January 24, 2001

9:59 AM

Microsoft properties down again. This time due to DNS routing. How embarrassing for them.
posted by quirked (15 comments total)

Comments on NANOG suggest that Microsoft has all of it's three DNS zone servers on *one network*. This Is Bad.

I've also heard that the mydomain.com connection has to do with that being the default 'domain' keyword value in the /etc/resolv.conf files of some Unix distributions... no confirmation on that point yet.

It will be unsurprising to see MSNBC fail to admit that MS's infrastructure people screwed the pooch.
posted by baylink at 10:11 AM on January 24, 2001

"Essentially, Microsoft now doesn't know where on the Net its websites are located. The websites are still there, but Microsoft's servers simply can't find them."

One more example of why most network administrators shouldn't be allowed out in public.

It's *us*, not "Microsoft's servers" that can't find the websites.
posted by baylink at 10:14 AM on January 24, 2001

Actually the current prevailing internal rumor is that...heh.... the entire MS....hehehehehe.....DNS.... hehehehehehehehehehe.....system is corrupt. and they're *gasp* *tear* rebuilding it from scratch!

Boy, that just made my day.
posted by bkdelong at 10:24 AM on January 24, 2001

Has anyone read the slashdot article of this. It's petty and childish.

Coming soon after the racism and incisive political commentary of recent weeks I'm gonna be giving it a miss for the first time in years.
posted by fullerine at 10:34 AM on January 24, 2001

So, does anyone have slate.com's IP address cached?
posted by nicwolff at 10:55 AM on January 24, 2001

Nicwolff:
How does 207.46.228.194 sound?
posted by iceberg273 at 12:16 PM on January 24, 2001

baylink, I've seen that knee-jerk assumption about MSNBC here before. But generally I've found MSNBC to be fully trustworthy in its technology reporting, including Microsoft and direct Microsoft competition. Certainly far more trustworthy and objective than hackjob, er, slashdot.

As several articles have noted, this may well be due to a deliberate insertion of bogus data into the central DNS system, which of course is a vulnerability shared by anyone who depends on DNS, not just Microsoft.
posted by dhartung at 12:32 PM on January 24, 2001

Umm is this affecting all of Digex as well? there's a few sites I know are hosted there that I can't seem to reach.
posted by tj at 12:36 PM on January 24, 2001

iceberg: sounds right! Thanks.
posted by nicwolff at 1:20 PM on January 24, 2001

Nope, Dan. The GTLD servers are delegating just fine. The DNS servers at the other end of the string just aren't reachable. Further commentary on NANOG suggests that the machines are *pingable*, you just can't get *DNS* info back from them.

Sounds like someone pushed the wrong button on the corporate firewall.

As for MSNBC, well, we shall see.

"You're a journalist. Why should we trust *you*?"

[ first person remembers the source of that quote, I'll buy 'em an Ybor Gold next time they're in Tampa ]
posted by baylink at 1:21 PM on January 24, 2001

Almost Famous
posted by cell divide at 2:27 PM on January 24, 2001

Nope. It's a novel, BTW.
posted by baylink at 5:36 PM on January 24, 2001

Naomi Campbell - Swan??

Via the reg
posted by fullerine at 4:17 AM on January 25, 2001

They did it on purpose to try to break my bejeweled habit. It didn't work, needless to say.
posted by beth at 2:20 PM on January 25, 2001

Apparently MS is now saying they've been hacked...
posted by pnevares at 9:44 PM on January 25, 2001