[ntp:questions] 3 Questions about setting up NTP

Danny Mayer mayer at ntp.isc.org
Wed Apr 9 11:46:24 UTC 2008


Richard B. Gilbert wrote:
> Danny Mayer wrote:
>> Setting up DNS doesn't take much effort to set up though admittedly I 
>> also have worked on the source code.
>>
> 
> Setting up a DNS server on VMS and TCP/IP Services  was an experience 
> I'll carry to my grave.  We had been using the server operated by our 
> upstream provider until they decided that the load was more than they 
> could handle.
> 

Well VMS is a bit different! I used UCX at the time! :)

> This was ca. September 1998.  I had no training or experience but 
> neither did anyone else at the site and I got stuck with the job!
> 
> The documentation didn't say much about it and most of what it did say 
> was either incomplete or just flat out wrong!  It was obviously written 
> by someone who had never done the job.
> 
> The software, as issued, was broken. I wound up upgrading to the very 
> latest version of VMS plus the very latest ECO (13) for TCP/IP Services. 
>   I spent a lot of time on the phone with third level tech support, a 
> wizard named Smiley Smith and, ultimately, with the developer.
> 
> I had to do it again, a year or so later and it was none too easy the 
> second time around either!  Copies of "DNS and BIND" and RFCs 1032, 
> 1033, 1034, 1035, and 1183 were my constant companions.  I still have 
> the big three-ring binder with all that stuff in it.  Who knows, I might 
> need it again someday although I hope not unless someone is sufficiently 
> desperate to pay two or three times my usual rates!

Assuming that this was BIND4 or BIND8 I would not be at all surprised. 
Paul and I are old VMS hackers and have several times discussed porting 
BIND9 to VMS. Implemented DECThreads code would have been interesting. 
It will probably never happen as it's a dying O/S unfortunately.

Danny



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