5 ms·

I am confused. Are so many big websites using Dyn, or does Dyn have some special role in the DNS chain in the US?

by sly010 10y ago

aeden 10y ago
Dyn has no special role, they just provide DNS for a large number of high-traffic sites and services.
ljosa 10y ago
They're widely used because they were one of the few providers of geo-aware DNS service for a long time. (These days there are other, cheaper options, including Amazon Route53.)
- planetix 10y ago
  Other option would have been Akamai's geo-aware DNS that has been available for a long time.
  - corobo 10y ago
    If anyone else is like me they assume Akamai = Expensive.
    - joncrane 10y ago
      and they would be right.
- RijilV 10y ago
  It's pretty wild that AWS is having impacts for the dyn outage given the shoutout to Route53. Wonder what they know that they don't?
  - nixgeek 10y ago
    Not sure if people are confusing Amazon with AWS in this case. $ dig +short ns amazon.com ns1.p31.dynect.net. pdns1.ultradns.net. ns4.p31.dynect.net. pdns6.ultradns.co.uk. ns3.p31.dynect.net. ns2.p31.dynect.net.
    - detaro 10y ago
      same seems to be the case for parts of AWS, comment below: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12760165 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12760165
redm 10y ago
They sell premium services, have a large sales team, and are very aggressive. I get emails from them weekly discussing millisecond savings of their DNS solutions and the value increase in customers and sales. Squeaky wheels get grease and their sales team squeaks a lot.
- dijit 10y ago
  Realistically they compete with Neustar which is shockingly expensive and has less features and is harder to use. I chose Dyn over Neustar (UltraDNS) when it was time to renew contracts because it was 60% cheaper, had a better latency, their support was great and the interfaces were clear. Not a fanboy or anything, I really don't like how aggressively they hound me now (even though I have nothing to do with DNS for my current employer), but it's cheap and effective so it's not surprising people use them.
  - pyvpx 10y ago
    they are cheap compared to Neustar. And Neustar is priced like a Bugatti. Dyn is more Porsche pricing.
    - wsul 10y ago
      Check out NS1.
      - pyvpx 10y ago
        I had a NS1 demo account. And then they stopped doing that, but it still worked. And then I lost the credentials, and now my account is invalid for a password reset :(
    - Filligree 10y ago
      Way, way back in time, they offered lifetime DNS hosting for a relatively low price. I bought that, and they've honored the deal. Admittedly it comes with limits that would make it useless for any large site, but it's just great for individuals.
bogomipz 10y ago
They offer Anycast and have POPs around the globe. They also have some other nice features such as intelligent failover and extra GEO IP features. Things that you would otherwise have to build yourself. They have been around a long time. For years they had a free product called DynDNS that would allow you get an A record for your dynamic IP at home.

I am confused. Are so many big websites using Dyn, or does Dyn have some special role in the DNS chain in the US?

by sly010 10y ago

I am confused. Are so many big websites using Dyn, or does Dyn have some special role in the DNS chain in the US?

aeden 10y ago

Dyn has no special role, they just provide DNS for a large number of high-traffic sites and services.

ljosa 10y ago

They're widely used because they were one of the few providers of geo-aware DNS service for a long time. (These days there are other, cheaper options, including Amazon Route53.)

planetix 10y ago
Other option would have been Akamai's geo-aware DNS that has been available for a long time.
- corobo 10y ago
  If anyone else is like me they assume Akamai = Expensive.
  - joncrane 10y ago
    and they would be right.
RijilV 10y ago
It's pretty wild that AWS is having impacts for the dyn outage given the shoutout to Route53. Wonder what they know that they don't?
- nixgeek 10y ago
  Not sure if people are confusing Amazon with AWS in this case. $ dig +short ns amazon.com ns1.p31.dynect.net. pdns1.ultradns.net. ns4.p31.dynect.net. pdns6.ultradns.co.uk. ns3.p31.dynect.net. ns2.p31.dynect.net.
  - detaro 10y ago
    same seems to be the case for parts of AWS, comment below: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12760165 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12760165

redm 10y ago

They sell premium services, have a large sales team, and are very aggressive. I get emails from them weekly discussing millisecond savings of their DNS solutions and the value increase in customers and sales. Squeaky wheels get grease and their sales team squeaks a lot.

dijit 10y ago
Realistically they compete with Neustar which is shockingly expensive and has less features and is harder to use. I chose Dyn over Neustar (UltraDNS) when it was time to renew contracts because it was 60% cheaper, had a better latency, their support was great and the interfaces were clear. Not a fanboy or anything, I really don't like how aggressively they hound me now (even though I have nothing to do with DNS for my current employer), but it's cheap and effective so it's not surprising people use them.
- pyvpx 10y ago
  they are cheap compared to Neustar. And Neustar is priced like a Bugatti. Dyn is more Porsche pricing.
  - wsul 10y ago
    Check out NS1.
    - pyvpx 10y ago
      I had a NS1 demo account. And then they stopped doing that, but it still worked. And then I lost the credentials, and now my account is invalid for a password reset :(
  - Filligree 10y ago
    Way, way back in time, they offered lifetime DNS hosting for a relatively low price. I bought that, and they've honored the deal. Admittedly it comes with limits that would make it useless for any large site, but it's just great for individuals.

bogomipz 10y ago

They offer Anycast and have POPs around the globe. They also have some other nice features such as intelligent failover and extra GEO IP features. Things that you would otherwise have to build yourself. They have been around a long time. For years they had a free product called DynDNS that would allow you get an A record for your dynamic IP at home.