This book will give you an all encompassing view of the domain name ecosystem combined with a comprehensive set of operations strategies. About This Book * Manage infrastructure, risk, and management of DNS name servers. Get hands-on with factors like types of name servers, DNS queries and and so on. * Practical guide for system administrators to manage mission-critical servers * Based on real-world experience - Written by an industry veteran who has made every possible mistake within this field. Who This Book Is For Ideal for sysadmins, webmasters, IT consultants, and developers-anyone responsible for maintaining your organization's core DNS What You Will Learn * Anatomy of a domain - how a domain is the sum of both its DNS zone and its registration data, and why that matters. * The domain name ecosystem - the role of registries, registrars and oversight bodies and their effect on your names. * How DNS queries work - queries and responses are examined including debugging techniques to zero in on problems. * Nameserver considerations - alternative nameserver daemons, numbering considerations, and deployment architectures. * DNS use cases - the right way for basic operations such as domain transfers, large scale migrations, GeoDNS, Anycast DNS. * Securing your domains - All aspects of security from registrar vendor selection, to DNSSEC and DDOS mitigation strategies. In Detail Managing your organization's naming architecture and mitigating risks within complex naming environments is very important. This book will go beyond looking at how to run a name server or how to DNSSEC sign a domain, Managing Mission Critical Domains & DNS looks across the entire spectrum of naming; from external factors that exert influence on your domains to all the internal factors to consider when operating your DNS. The readers are taken on a comprehensive guided tour through the world of naming: from understanding the role of registrars and how they interact with registries, to what exactly is it that ICANN does anyway? Once the prerequisite knowledge of the domain name ecosystem is acquired, the readers are taken through all aspects of DNS operations. Whether your organization operates its own nameservers or utilizes an outsourced vendor, or both, we examine the complex web of interlocking factors that must be taken into account but are too frequently overlooked. By the end of this book, our readers will have an end to end to understanding of all the aspects covered in DNS name servers. Style and approach The book is divided into two parts, the first part looks at the wider domain name ecosystem: registries, registrars and oversight policies. The second and larger part goes into operations. Every aspect of naming is considered from the viewpoint of how this affects ones domains, what are the ramifications of different operating methods as portfolios scale.