Re: PostgreSQL vs. Oracle vs. Microsoft - Mailing list pgsql-performance

On Fri, Jan 21, 2005 at 02:00:03AM -0500, Tom Lane wrote:
> got absolutely zero flak about their use of Postgres in connection
> with the .mobi bid, after having endured very substantial bombardment

Well, "absolutely zero" is probably overstating it, but Tom is right
that PostgreSQL is not the sort of major, gee-it's-strange technology
it once was.  PostgreSQL is indeed established technology in the
ICANN world now, and I don't think anyone has an argument that it
can't run a registry without trouble.  I certainly believe that
PostgreSQL is a fine technology for this.  And it scales just fine;
we added a million domains to .info over a couple days in September,
and the effect on performance was unmeasurable (we'd have added them
faster, but the bottleneck was actually the client).  A domain add in
our case is on the order of 10 database write operations; that isn't
a huge load, of course, compared to large real-time manufacturing
data collection or other such applications.  (Compared to those kinds
of applications, the entire set of Internet registry systems,
including all the registrars, is not that big.)

Incidentally, someone in this thread was concerned about having to
maintain a separate password for each .org domain.  It's true that
that is a registrar, rather than a registry, issue; but it may also
be a case where the back end is getting exposed.  The .org registry
uses a new protocol, EPP, to manage objects.  One of the features of
EPP is that it gives a kind of password (it's called authInfo) to
each domain.  The idea is that the registrant knows this authInfo,
and also the currently-sponsoring registrar.  If the registrant wants
to switch to another registrar, s/he can give the authInfo to the new
registrar, who can then use the authInfo in validating a transfer
request.  This is intended to prevent the practice (relatively
widespread, alas, under the old protocol) where an unscrupulous party
requests transfers for a (substantial number of) domain(s) without
any authorization.  (This very thing has happened recently to a
somewhat famous domain on the Internet.  I'll leave it to the gentle
reader to do the required googling.  The word "panix" might be of
assistance.)  So the additional passwords actually do have a purpose;
but different registrars handle this feature differently.  My
suggestion is either to talk to your registrar or change registrars
(or both) to get the behaviour you like.  There are hundreds of
registrars for both .info and .org, so finding one which acts the way
you want shouldn't be too tricky.

Anyway, this is pretty far off topic.  But in answer to the original
question, Afilias does indeed use PostgreSQL for this, and is happy
to talk on the record about it.

A

--
Andrew Sullivan  | ajs@crankycanuck.ca
The fact that technology doesn't work is no bar to success in the marketplace.
        --Philip Greenspun