[ NNSquad ] Re: DNS vs. CDN

[Vint Cerf <vint@google.com>]

i agree with bob here - mapping of identifiers to addresses is really outside the basic routing of packets. In fact, one could go so far as to say that there are other ways to identify end-points besides topologically meaningful addresses although that method has the advantage of compression.

vint

On Sat, May 29, 2010 at 11:45 AM, Bob Frankston <Bob19-0501@bobf.frankston.com> wrote:

This gets to my point that the DNS should not be a base level mechanism but
an application outside the network. The premise of the DNS is that the
mapping of intent to destination should necessarily be done by translating
the intent into a name and then looking up the name.

This makes no more sense than presuming that everyone wants a reliable
circuit. The decision on reliable delivery should be outside the network
with best efforts being the more fundamental protocol because best efforts
reflects the underlying reality.

In the same way mapping of intent should not be forced into the reductionist
mold of a single name. I recently ordered another copy of Co-Pilot for my
iPad and it had to bring down the entire 2GB map set over the network. If,
instead, it had a protocol for hailing for the content it might've found it
on an adjacent computer. This is what torrents aim for and that approach
should be treated as alternative to the DNS with equal standing.

Though this isn't the only problem with the DNS it does go to the heart of
how we think about what the Internet is and what it can be. This doesn't
mean that the Internet is or should be content delivery network as some
people think. It's just that by moving the intent mapping outside the
network we put content delivery on equal footing with other ways of and
reasons for exchanging bits.

-----Original Message-----
From: nnsquad-bounces+nnsquad=bobf.frankston.com@nnsquad.org
[mailto:nnsquad-bounces+nnsquad=bobf.frankston.com@nnsquad.org] On Behalf Of
Lauren Weinstein
Sent: Saturday, May 29, 2010 11:09
To: nnsquad@nnsquad.org
Subject: [ NNSquad ] DNS vs. CDN


DNS vs. CDN

http://bit.ly/cbU2T3  (Sajal Kayan)

Unfortunately, not only poor performance but other (often undesirable, from
the standpoint of many users) manipulations that some ISPs perform on their
DNS services are part of what's driven the move to services like OpenDNS and
Google DNS in the first place.

But there are clearly other mechanisms that could be employed to better
establish users' locations for CDN (Content Distribution
Networks) homing purposes, and the example of DNS vs. CDN is simply another
indication of DNS' rapidly increasing obsolescence vis-a-vis the Internet of
the 21st century.

--Lauren--
NNSquad Moderator