Random act of management

[Simon Waters]

psycho wrote:
> 
> At the minute the way
> DNS is setup in our place, feels as though it's just been thrown up and
> left alone and only messed with when a zone file needs changing. The latter
> part I agree with if it's setup to meet the networks requirements fully...if
> it aint broke don't fix it,  but for gods sake inplament it fully, and
> properley, no more no less. As far as they are concerned as long as the type
> in a URL and the see what they're supposed to see in a browser they don't
> care, I don't think they yet fully understand that things like email also
> use DNS.

I'd like to tell you this was atypical, but....

Most DNS setups of this type are broken in various minor ways,
usually only affecting redundancy, or performance, so it isn't
"broke" as in "not working at this instance".

I have a suspicion at least one big global company started on a
major network upgrade as a result of a minor DNS configuration
error. 

The only thing more revealing about companies IT networks is
firewall installation, as all the dross, misaddressed packets,
incorrect netmasks, dodgy routing, on the network is suddenly
laid bare all at once. I've even found bugs in Windows network
card drivers through installing firewalls.

All too often the IT staff at such companies are too busy
"firefighting" to develop the skills, and spend the time, to
sort these things themselves. Have sometimes wondered if instead
of going in as a consultant, I should just hire a team a trained
PC support people, to take on the bulk of end user questions. At
one point my previous employer was hired to provide a helpdesk
service to do precisely this for a big company, freeing up their
IT staff to actually sort out the big issues, implement new
systems etc.