> ... I decided to use them as I'm 
> fairly well versed in DNS setup and maintenance and my current provided 
> charges me $25 for every domain I add, which seems a bit much for a 2 
> minute job.

(flame on)

I've been watching this thread and it seems like the general thoughts
expressed about ISP's is that their time and resources have no value.

I've been doing the ISP thing since 1994.  I've configured and maintained
primary, secondary and tertiary DNS for thousands of domains.  At any
given time I host on the average of one thousand domains.  I'll bet some
of you have done it longer, with more domains, at bigger companies and
with more OS's, but that's not the point...

My company provides DNS to its CLIENTS at no extra charge given that some
service is being paid for that relates directly to that domain (i.e. WWW,
ETRN, mail, T1, etc.) If a client comes to us and ONLY wants DNS, we
charge them for it.  The "two minutes" it takes (actually less) to enter
the domain into named.conf and to create a proper zone file (primary...)
truly IS minor.  The resources involved in doing DNS for a single domain
is also very minor. Why do we charge them then? Well, given the chance, I
know that the world of freebie seekers would completely fill my days, hard
disks and bandwidth with the resources required to fulfill these minor
tasks -- and quite honestly, we are far too busy keeping the paying
clients happy to put them off for the freebie "clients".

So, if an ISP charges you $25 (or $100/yr like I do for primary) for DN
services, consider for a moment that you can actually call or email them
and receive an answer for assistance.  Perhaps you noticed the little
disclaimer oh granitecanyon.com regarding their email help:

"soa-help(at)granitecanyon.com (rarely answered)"
                             ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
If your business is losing money due to failed DNS and your requests for
assistance brings you no closer to resolving the issue, is the few dollars
it would cost for SUPPORTED DNS really that much to pay?

I'm sure that any ISP worth their salt could write and let loose with a
free web based DNS administration system... but give them one good reason
why they should support it?  $0 certainly doesn't sustain maintenance and
resource expenditure. But, if the ISP asks for some fee, however small,
maintenance and support no longer becomes such a financial black hole.
Upgrades become timely and problems are resolved quickly and
professionally.

Everyone agrees; you get what you pay for. Any serious business person
welcomes the opportunity to PAY for a valued service given that the price
is reasonable and they can identify with the reason why their business
needs it.

If you believe your business NEEDS secondary DNS then you should have no
problem determining how valuable secondary DNS is.  If you determine that
the value of secondary DNS is $0 then you obviously don't NEED it and a
service such as the service soa.granitecanyon.com provides is perfect for
your business

In closing; nothing ventured, nothing gained.
(flame off)

John Romano

• Web Designer Courses
• Off the Shelf Training Courses

HWG: hwg-servers mailing list archives, maintained by Webmasters @ IWA