Sorry for the relatively short diary, but this is pretty important, and no one is quite sure of the cause yet.
There are major problems on the Internet today, specifically with the DNS system. DNS is the system that translates a domain name (say, dailykos.com) into an IP address.
If DNS was not working properly, that could mean that trying to visit certain Web sites would not work, sending email to certain domains would not work, and just a whole host of other problems would be experienced.
The problem is being reported by Network Solutions, one of the largest DNS registrars, who reports:
There may be some latency on Network Solutions DNS Severs and some queries may be timing out. This may include instances when someone types a domain name into a browser and the website will temporarily not resolve. Network Solutions Operations is working on optimizing the DNS queries and investigating the issue.
It is unclear what is causing these issues, but it is possible, and I stress, possible, that this is the result of a coordinated attack on Network Solutions by an outside group. Of course, it could be something a lot more innocuous as well, but we'll see how it turns out.
This is one reminder of how vulnerable our network infrastructure can be.
I'll post more updates as they come. Has anyone out there seen issues with network disruption?