(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — Neustar (www.neustar.biz), the organization that operates the UltraDNS (www.ultradns.biz) product, announced on Thursday that it has collaborated with recursive DNS provider OpenDNS (www.opendns.com) on creating a system that will allow the updating of the domain name system in near real time, using Neustar’s databases to create what the announcement calls the DNS Real-time Directory.
Coming shortly after last week’s announcement that Google had introduced its own Public DNS system (news that undoubtedly raised the profile of public DNS offerings), the DNS Real-time Directory will provide a centralized, cloud-based system that Neustar says will enable its customers and participating providers to publish DNS modifications in real-time to participating ISPs and recursive service providers, with the ultimate goal of creating a better user experience across the Internet.
In the announcement, the companies say the project was created when they identified the need for a better process for updating the DNS. The current process, limits enterprises and domain owners, who maintain their own DNS records, with the “time to live” delays encountered before DNS records cached at ISPs are updated.
DNS errors and delays have resulted in several large outages over the last few months, says Neustar, highlighting the need for a more effective means of distributing DNS information.
“We were pleased to work with Neustar on this initiative,” said David Ulevitch, founder and chief technical officer of OpenDNS, quoted in the press release. “Collaborating with Neustar means OpenDNS is now not only one of the largest recursive DNS services on the planet, but also the most up-to-date. Neustar provides a world-class authoritative DNS service. OpenDNS provides a world-class recursive DNS service. We look forward to other service providers adopting the DNS Real-time Directory as the standard for real-time updates.”
According to the UltraDNS website, the DNS Real-time Directory operates based on three components: “a consolidated collection of DNS changes, authoritative servers that publish those changes and recursive servers that accept those changes.”
A more complete description of the project’s purpose and function is available at the UltraDNS website.
Neustar says new partners, providers and subscribers will be adopting the Real-time Directory over the next few weeks. The company says anyone interested can contact the Neustar at dnsrealtime@neustar.biz.
The company is working on creating software clients that will integrate with popular recursive DNS server software, and will be distributed under an open source license.
