E-Bitz - SBS MVP the Official Blog of the SBS "Diva"

DNS ...to forward or not to forward...that 'tis the question

First off I have to explain..I've been doing knock offs of Shakespeare ever since I briefly caught the interview of Denzel Washington on GMA in his role of Brutus in Julius Caesar on Broadway.....the “To Be or not To Be“ is from Hamlet anyway....we now return you back to the blog....

DNS ...to forward or not to forward...that 'tis the question...whether tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of potential DNS poisoning or to merely use root hints..... 

uh...sorry...where was I?  Oh yeah...

Muffy in the newsgroups indicates that when she ran the Connect to internet wizard that she 'did not' put in any ISP's DNS entries in there where the wizard indicated and the network is resolving to the Internet just fine.  Is this okay, she asks?

And yes, indeed as is showcased here it is truly not necessary to put in ISP forwarders...as the built in DNS root hints pick up the ball and just work.

In fact, many are now arguing that we should 'not' put in DNS forwarders anymore due to DNS poisoning attacks.  The only thing I have seen that we need sometimes is adjustments to EDNS0 support evidence by not being able to get to some websites.

So next time you are playing around with your test server... try taking out those forwarders...see what happens... you'll probably find like Muffy did that everything magically still works just fine.

P.S.  Check out Eric's comments for some items to think about when choosing between forwarding or no forwarding.

What's a server?

If you are the IT Pro...what's a server?

No, seriously...what is a server?  I would hope that you would say that it's an operating system that 'at least' had the name 'Server' in it and not XP Pro used in a peer setting.  I would hope that you would say something that specifically was tuned and optimized to be a server.

If you are the business owner...what is a server?

No, seriously... put your business owner hat on and put aside the geek propeller head hat.  What is your view of the server?  It's Outlook isn't it?  Or it's the shared file storage of Excel.  Or it's the business app you are using like CRM.  They have no idea, no care of what the 'plumbing' is used to do the job.  They just want it so that when they go to turn on the water that the water indeed comes out.  It's as simple as that.

  It's YOUR job as the propeller head to spec out the plumbing. 

Used to be that we only looked at SCSI drives for servers.  Raid 5 this.  Raid 10 that.  Now we're using SATA drives.  I personally thing the hardware side is the harder one to keep up with.  Maybe I'm just a software gal, but even with I go to Dell's web site invariably I can never put together a server that has the right parts in the right places and I get a “we're sorry you cannot put that backplane with that drive without major hardware issues” ...or some equivalent message.

I'd say most of the gang spec out a system that they get comfortable with and then 'stay' with that footprint for a while until it's time to reevaluate and start over. 

Just don't forget when talking to that business owner that they don't care about what size the pipe is our how the backflush device works.  They want a nice looking faucet and water that is hot when they want it and cold when they want that too.  Don't talk nuts and bolts about servers, show them how the faucet [server] works.  Turn on the faucet and show the running water.  Show them Remote Web Workplace and Outlook Web Access.  In fact, take your own laptop and showcase how 'you' can communicate remotely with 'your' office.  Making sure your own 'geek factor' is in place is probably the best sales tool you have.  Not to mention, it's a great way to keep up to date on interoperability of technology...and yes...before someone asks..keeping up with all the geek toys is indeed an ordinary and necessary business expense and thus the devices you would be buying to showcase mobility would be deductible.

SecCast anyone?

Oh this is too geeky... Security Topics and a Podcast all in one

ThePodcastNetwork :: The Gadget Show » Blog Archive » The Gadget Show #5:
http://www.thepodcastnetwork.com/gadget/2005/03/23/the-gadget-show-5/

This is so cool.  They have Robert Hensing and have Dr. Jesper Johansson's info on passwords,

hmmm...maybe it needs to be called a SecCast rather than a Podcast?

Issues with KB 891711 [MS 05-002 on 98/98SE and ME]

This just in from the Microsoft Security Response Center:

Microsoft has received reports about issues with KB891711 on Windows 98,
Windows 98 SE and Windows ME.  At this point, we have been able to
confirm these reports and are currently working on a resolution.  

Please note that by uninstalling the current update, the machine will
return to a vulnerable state.  At this point, we are currently not aware
of customer's being exploited by way of the vulnerability fixed in
MS05-002 on Windows 98, Windows 98 SE and Windows ME.  If you need
additional assistance regarding this update, please contact +1 (866)
PCSAFETY. When calling, please indicate that you are having issues with
a security update.

Folks remember that an issue with a Security patch is a FREE call.

I cannot stress enough how important it is to get feedback to PSS when stuff like this occurs.