March 20, 2014 archive

Microsoft Publishes Guide To Deploying DNSSEC In Windows Server 2012

Microsoft DNSSEC GuideDo you work in an enterprise using Microsoft Windows Server 2012 and are interested in either deploying DNSSEC validation to provide better security to your users – and/or securing your own DNS zones using DNSSEC?

If so, the good folks at Microsoft just recently released a new guide “DNSSEC in Windows Server 2012” that guides you through what you need to do to deploy DNSSEC in Windows Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012 R2.  I’d note that it covers both the validation and signing sides of DNSSEC.

The document has four major sections:

  • Overview of DNSSEC
  • DNSSEC in Windows
  • DNSSEC Deployment Planning
  • Deploy DNSSEC with Windows Server 2012

as well as few appendices.  The document goes into quite a deep level of detail with how DNSSEC is integrated into various aspects of Windows Server 2012.  The “Deployment Planning” section seemed quite useful, too, as it explored some of the performance requirements and also suggested a process for staging a deployment.

In reading through the document, I was quite impressed by the “Deploy DNSSEC with Windows Server 2012″ section that includes many different checklists to help administrators know precisely what they need to be doing.  While I don’t personally work with a Windows Server 2012, the checklists seemed to be covering the areas that I would want them to cover.

As we look to get more enterprises doing DNSSEC validation and also signing their own zones, it is great to see this document come out of Microsoft!    If you work with Microsoft Windows Server 2012, definitely do give it a look – and start deploying DNSSEC today!

 

Flying Around The Globe (Literally)

As someone who enjoys maps, globes and all things related to geography, I found it kind of cool this morning to realize that my travel this weekend to ICANN 49 in Singapore (to be involved with activities related to DNSSEC (DNS Security)) will take me "around the world" in a somewhat literal manner. I will start off flying east from Boston to London and on to Singapore - and then will return flying east to Hong Kong and then to Chicago and back to Boston.

Of course, as the "Great Circle Mapper" site reminded me, my "circle" may not be quite as round as I was thinking it would be because the flights will probably take the northern route shown on this awesome image below: Great Circle Mapper 2

Still, it is rather fun to see that this trip will go in some kind of loop around the world.

I talked about this in one of my "The Dan York Report" podcasts this morning:



I mentioned a "write-on" globe that I use to show where I will be traveling for my kids. While I bought it at the headquarters of Delorme Maps up in Freeport, Maine, the globe itself turns out to be made by Replogle as the "Geographer Globe". You can probably find it in stores that sell globes or on various online sites. Here is one link to buy it on Amazon.com[1], although you may be able to find it at other places for less.

It's been fun to use that globe to give my family a sense of where I am going.

It also serves to remind me of just how long I'm going to be in airborne metal tubes! :-(


[1] In full disclosure, this link to Amazon is an "associate" link. If you were to actually purchase the globe, I would make a tiny amount of money for the referral. If you think that has any influence on my writing about it, you obviously don't know me well. :-)

TDYR #133 – Flying A Circle Around The World To/From Singapore

This morning I realized that with my upcoming travel to Singapore I'm going to be traveling completely around the world with my particular flights. Being a lover of maps, globes and geography, I just found this kind of cool... Here is what I'm doing in Singapore: http://www.internetsociety.org/deploy360/blog/2014/03/3-dnssec-sessions-at-icann-49-next-week-in-singapore/ And the "write-on" globe I mentioned turns out to be the Replogle "Geographer" Globe that can be found in many online sites. Here is a link to buy it at Amazon: http://amzn.to/1ozAkFU