BIND Based Appliances.

[Niall O'Reilly]

On Fri, 03 Oct 2008 20:40:01 +0100, Paul Vixie <vixie at isc.org> wrote:

> so i
> really am hoping that folks will speak up here, or contact me, if they've
> got needs that "BIND and DHCP out of the box" aren't meeting.  (yet.)

	OK -- here goes.

	I'm "striking while the iron is hot", and apologise in advance
	in case my wish-list reflects more my own lack of awareness than
	the actual state of the products.  If I decide to wait until
	I've done all the appropriate homework, I may lose the moment.

	Things I would like to see include the following.

	"Hot reload" of the DHCP configuration, a la 'rndc reload',
	so that a new configuration could be activated without needing
	to interrupt service.  In particular, support for introducing
	new 'shared network', 'subnet', and 'pool' blocks in this way
	would be a significant gain.  OMAPI may be the scaffolding for
	this, but the present omshell seems to need to high a level of
	expertise for safe use (from what I read on the list).

	Elimination of the fiddly administrative steps which seem to
	be involved in switching out either server of a DHCP failover
	pair.  Again, this is from what I read on the list, rather
	than from experience.

	Some kind of (address-family-agnostic) "open IPAM solution"
	which would allow "integrated management and visualization"
	of at least DHCP and DNS.  Ideally, this would hook into a
	monitoring system.

	Proprietary solutions seem to be available covering these, but
	at significant cost, in terms either of actual purchase and
	licensing, or of flexibility or relinquishment of control of
	the data from network operator to vendor.

	Solutions do exist in the "open" space, but AFAICS with some
	"wrinkles" needing "ironing out" and without the resources
	for maintenance which I would hope ISC would be able to offer.

	Sponsorship is something I'm not in a position to talk about
	just now.  I don't see that as a reason to ignore Paul's
	invitation to speak up.


	Best regards,

	Niall O'Reilly
	University College Dublin IT Services