DDOS on Namecheap Free DNS and Default DNS V2

Weird, I haven't researched DNS as well as I should have. I always lived under the impression that there was this extensive DNS cache network where intermediaries responded to queries with cached results from root DNS servers.

Instead, the second that this DDos hits is the second we have websites stopping working.

How is it that in this day and age we can't have distributed caches of DNS entries at our providers of full dns databases. I mean there can't be more than like a few billion dns entries in the world total, which fits easily in a modern desktop computers RAM.

If that is an underestimate, I can't believe a single modern server wouldn't be able to mirror the world's DNS queries for at least a providers worth of users.

Re: DDOS on Namecheap Free DNS and Default DNS V2

#6

Post by MichaelTieso » Thu, Feb 20, 2014, 4:40 PM UTC

That would explain why I'm getting a massive amount of tickets from my clients why their site is down.

Re: DDOS on Namecheap Free DNS and Default DNS V2

#7

Post by zrail » Thu, Feb 20, 2014, 4:41 PM UTC

avb wrote: post #3

Any good suggestions for alternative DNS providers?

I moved most of my stuff to Route53 awhile back and for the most part I don't regret it.

Re: DDOS on Namecheap Free DNS and Default DNS V2

#8

Post by jschuur » Thu, Feb 20, 2014, 4:42 PM UTC

tinco wrote: post #5

Weird, I haven't researched DNS as well as I should have. I always lived under the impression that there was this extensive DNS cache network where intermediaries responded to queries with cached results from root DNS servers. Instead, the second that this DDos hits is the second we have websites stopping working. How is it that in this day and age we can't have distributed caches of DNS entries at our providers of f…

Depends on the TTL (time to live) settings for the DNS entries, doesn't it?

Re: DDOS on Namecheap Free DNS and Default DNS V2

#9

Post by tinco » Thu, Feb 20, 2014, 4:42 PM UTC

derwiki wrote: post #4

Is there any point in freaking out or do we just have to wait this one out?

If it's absolutely critical that your users get service right now, it might be a good idea to at least prepare a migration to other DNS servers, like perhaps those of Linode. If the situation doesn't improve within an hour or so, it might be that they don't have a good way to deal with it, and the outtage might take long, depending on the depth of the DDoSers pockets.

Re: DDOS on Namecheap Free DNS and Default DNS V2

#10

Post by jschuur » Thu, Feb 20, 2014, 4:43 PM UTC

zrail wrote: post #7

avb wrote: post #3

Any good suggestions for alternative DNS providers?

I moved most of my stuff to Route53 awhile back and for the most part I don't regret it.

Pricing doesn't seem too bad. $0.50 for a zone (domain) and $0.50 for a billion queries: http://aws.amazon.com/route53/pricing/