* The problem with DNS and DHCP
There’s no question that DNS and DHCP are critical functions for a network to “work.” Just for the record, DNS is the mechanism by which a name, such as Webtorials.Com, is translated into a “real” IP address that the Internet knows about. DHCP is a mechanism by which IP addresses can be assigned to devices, eliminating the need (in many cases) for static IP addresses. In fact, we’ve suggested in prior newsletters (including the Oct. 10 newsletter) that a good check on whether a resource is available is to try to address the resource directly via an IP address. If the hostname http://www.networkworld.com/ doesn’t respond but http://65.214.57.165/ does, the odds are really good that the problem is somewhere in the DNS.
One of the problems, though, with DNS and DHCP is deciding which group within the IT organization is responsible for the care and feeding of these functions. In some shops, it’s a part of the systems administrators’ job. However, as TCP/IP become more and more prevalent – especially through the deployment of technologies like VoIP – the question arises whether the DNS/DHCP capabilities should be assigned primarily to the networking group or the system administration group.
According to a paper by Jon Oltsik of the Enterprise Strategy Group (available here), this function is indeed moving more toward the networking organization. In the paper, he further argues that dedicated appliances are preferable to existing software-based approaches, primarily because the dedicated appliances require less detailed knowledge on the part of the ever-changing staff and reduces the number of manual management processes required.
We’d like to hear from you on this issue. Where is this responsibility in your organization? Further, are you moving toward an appliance-based approach and away from the BIND (Berkeley Internet Domain Name) software tool and/or Microsoft’s Active Directory?
Let us know what you see as the advantages and disadvantages, and we’ll share the results.
