[svlug-archive] [svlug] netsol is a bunch of fucking morons !!!

[Marc MERLIN]

But I'm sure you knew that already...

It's been a month and a half that I've been trying to get rid of that stupid
www.svlug.org host record
http://www.networksolutions.com/cgi-bin/whois/whois;?STRING=host+WWW7974-HST&STRING=Search

Of course, we  never created that host record, it  was created when svcs.net
and svcs.org  were as they  unfortunately specified www.svlug.org as  a name
server (something I only  found out about way later because  there is no way
to know who's using your host record unless someone really high up at netsol
looks that up for you).

So, after moving svlug.org away from  netsol (to opensrs), and noticing they
were still feeding www.svlug.org to the  root name servers, I called them up
several times,  having to dodge the  clueless level 1 people  who don't know
what a host record  is or told me it was not their  problem since they don't
serve svlug.org.

Eventually,  they  tell  me  about svcs.net  which  was  very  unfortunately
registered with www.svlug.org as a  name server (instead of ns.svlug.org), I
move that over  to opensrs (with the  help of Chris who owned  the domain to
click on the URL that opensrs sends you to confirm the domain move), fix the
name servers, and it still doesn't work.
Chris Dibona mentions to  me that there is an svcs.org  too (they could have
told me, but no...), so wash, rince, and repeat...
Both domains are moved, name servers are fixed, wait a few days.
(so far  so good,  nothing in  this process involves  sending mail  to their
stupid mail system which  never works when I use it  anyway, besides I don't
get the  answers because  after 10  years+, they  still haven't  fixed their
script to add a 'To:' field in the Email they send)

A week later,  they're still feeding the  bad data to the  root name server.
Call them up 3 times, waste time  to go through the clueless level 1 people,
get level 2  folks who kind of  understand the problem but who  are now "not
habilitated to do a reverse lookup on a host record" to see if any domain is
still using the bad host record.
I insist, ask for a supervisor, ask  for someone who can do the damn lookup,
but no, no one is available.
- Why don't you send a host delete request?
- Well, if a domain is pointing to it, it won't work now, will it?
- Err yeah.
- And you can't tell me what is pointing to it if anything.
- Err no.

"Send us letterhead"
Yeah, as soon as I go to kinkos and make SVLUG letterhead, I'll do that.

"I'll send you the forms you need to fax"
I never  get them  because she  misspelled my  Email address  and apparently
never  got/saw the  bounce from  my mail  server and  insisted that  it went
through.

Call again, get escallated again as soon as I confused the level 1 tech
enough.
Ok, this guy can actually confirm that nothing is pointing to www.svlug.org.
- But then why are you still feeding the bad IP to the root name servers?
- Because it's our database
- Grrrmm. Ok, look at this:
  http://www.networksolutions.com/cgi-bin/whois/whois;?STRING=host+ns2.merlins.org
  Notice the bad IP? Well, it stopped mattering the day I moved my domain to
  opensrs. If you have no domains pointing to a host record, you stop
  feeding that host record to the root name servers, as you should.
  Are you sure nothing whatsoever is pointing to it anymore?
- Yes.
- Ok, then why are you still feeding it to the root name servers
- Because it's in our databasse
- And why don't you do it for ns2.merlins.org?
- Errr.... Hold on.
  (wait)
  That's because the hostname is 'www'
- Let me get this straight. You're telling me that you continue to feed an
  orphaned host name record because it has 'www' in its name?
- Yes
- Aaaarrrrgggghhh! (eating desk)
- So what now?
- Ok, submit the deletion form by Email, get the tracking number, print this
  different form, add the tracking number on there, and fax it to us

Swell. I fill the form
(http://www.networksolutions.com/en_US/makechanges/fax/hostform.html),
confirm:

"Domain Not Found!

"svlug.org" domain cannot be found in WHOIS Database. Please go back to the
previous screen and enter a valid domain name."
(of course, svlug.org was moved to opensrs)

Arggggh! I'm going to kill someone....


I printed the unconfirmed web form,  added their error message and faxed all
that to two of their fax numbers.


As  Rick was  saying,  their cluelessness  allows for  very  nice denial  of
service attacks (www.svlug.org has been unusable for 2 months now)

Let's wait and see some more.
(this was just to let you know that we are definitely working on solving the
problem, it's just taking a really long  time (I've already wasted a good 10
hours of my time on this issue))

Marc
-- 
Microsoft is to operating systems & security ....
                                      .... what McDonalds is to gourmet cooking
  
Home page: http://marc.merlins.org/   |   Finger marc_f@merlins.org for PGP key

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