Nothing Like Timing

Update (10/7/12).--Why does the ISP continue to reboot Domain Name Servers (DNS) during primetime user hours, like today (Sunday) at 7:15 pm? Right now not all the Websites are recognizable or came back online and my e-mail server won't connect. Why can't they do this work in the wee hours of the morning when there are fewer people on-line?

Original Post (9/28/12).-- There's nothing like bad timing. At least for my Internet Service Provider (ISP) Century Link. For the second time this week and the third time in the last two weeks the Domain Name Server (DNS) stopped worked for many Websites.

Not all Websites, just some. The problem is that all the computers in the world must have the same list of domain names and Internet Protocol (IP) addresses to ensure all the traffic is routed to the correct computers through the servers. This way all the packets of Internet traffic find the right path through the maze of networks, routers and servers.

So to do this they have to make sure all the ISP's and Website host computers have the same list. And to do that the ISP's rebuild the list from the deletions, additions, or changes to the IP addresses and domain names routinely circulated the domain name hosts.

This works almost seemlessly, until it doesn't, and you find you can't go anywhere and your browser says it can't connect to the Website because that domain name can't be found, meaning it's not on the ISP's list. Some ISP's have ways to update the list without rebooting the computer and some don't.

Either way, if anything goes wrong, then you go nowhere fast. Last week it was for nearly 4 hours and earlier this week for over an hour. This time about 15-20 minutes, time to test Websites and then write this post. All of them were in the busy time, between 4 pm and 10 pm.

So, not really new or news, just a frustration with a system that relies on communications, and sometimes that breaks down or isn't understood, and everyone then looks and feels real stupid.