Yep just switch your DNS servers(away from Comcast ones) and you'll be
cruising again.

Jbob wrote:
Aren't they supposed to tell DHCP to switch users to different DNS
servers? (i.e. reboot your DHCP client to get new DNS)

Rick Merrill wrote:
They could do that. Assuming that they have other servers to assign. They'd
also have to remember to set the lease time short enough so that when the
problem goes away, everyone is switched back fast enough.

Also, for people using routers, they'd have to reset the router, and reboot
their computer. Rebooting their computers would just get the same DNS
servers being given out by the router. And while just resetting would change
the DNS information in the router, it would still need to be served to
computer, which would either need to be rebooted, or release/renew the
lease.

But again, that all depends upon having backup servers available. It would
be my guess that if more than one DNS server goes down at the same time, the
problem is more likely to be a problem with communications to/from the data
center where the DNS servers are located. So they not only would need to
have back-up servers available, they'd need to be located at another data
center.

Also, you need a global way of changing the information to all the accounts,
and that information would need to be pushed-out to the regional data
centers where the DNS servers are located. And if there's a problem with the
central data center, well, making that happen would be a problem as well.

So while you're theoretically correct, the practical application of that
solution is far more difficult than it sounds. And implementing a
work-around usually takes resources away from fixing the actual problem as
well.

--
Warren H.

==========
Disclaimer: My views reflect those of myself, and not my
employer, my friends, nor (as she often tells me) my wife.
Any resemblance to the views of anybody living or dead is
coincidental. No animals were hurt in the writing of this
response -- unless you count my dog who desperately wants
to go outside now.
Care for your landscape with Black and Decker cordless tools
http://www.holzemville.com/mall/blac...ker/index.html

And to top all that off if the DNS servers are down how are the users gonna
get email to know to change them manually. lol
This specific issue was discussed adnauseum over on DSLReports last week and
going on again tonight..

Jbob wrote:

I get enough email so that if I don't get any for a while or I can't surf
to sites failing a name lookup, I first make sure the DNS server is down
and then I just go into the router and switch from automatic to fixed DNS
and hit Apply. No rebooting or anything - I'm right back up using somebody
else's servers.

Being a programmer, I could also create a background task to do a name
lookup periodically and open a popup when it fails - but haven't had
that big a need yet.

$Bill wrote:
That's the other thing. Most users are not savvy enough to have any idea how
to troubleshoot a problem, let alone understand any results of their
troubleshooting.

I'd like to think that most people would have enough experience to try
rebooting their computer, but I'm not holding my breath. I have no delusions
that they'd know to reset their router and reboot, and know enough to do it
in the right order.

So if we're talking about the group of people who would know enough to reset
and reboot their equipment in the right order, and we don't have to worry
about those savvy enough to know how to manually set public DNS servers,
we're down to a pretty small group of people.

There might be a situation when it would be worth it to switch the DNS
servers that DHCP is serving, but I don't think that there would be many
cases in which you'd want to divert available engineers from fixing the
problem to setting-up a work-around that would benefit such a small number
of users.

Now I'm starting to get real curious about just what the heck is going on.
And why such a major problem has hit twice in less than a week. There's
probably a good story behind this.

--
Warren H.

==========
Disclaimer: My views reflect those of myself, and not my
employer, my friends, nor (as she often tells me) my wife.
Any resemblance to the views of anybody living or dead is
coincidental. No animals were hurt in the writing of this
response -- unless you count my dog who desperately wants
to go outside now.
Care for your landscape with Black and Decker cordless tools
http://www.holzemville.com/mall/blac...ker/index.html