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.eu goes open source with YADIFA name server solution

25 June 2012

Brussels, 25 June 2012 – The .eu registry EURid is proud to unveil a new open-source Domain Name System (DNS) name server solution called YADIFA®. Today, EURid will officially launch YADIFA at the ICANN 44 meeting in Prague, the Czech Republic.

"We developed YADIFA because we wanted to increase the robustness of the .eu name server infrastructure by adding an alternative to the solutions we already use," said EURid’s General Manager, Marc Van Wesemael. "YADIFA is a .eu initiative. Yet due to its superior performance, we felt that others could also benefit so we made it open source."

YADIFA from .eu

YADIFA is a name server implementation for top-level domain operators and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) alike. YADIFA is designed specifically for the efficient management of large Internet zones and uses dynamic updates to instantly change domain name records. It is equally optimised to handle multiple Internet zones. Freely available as open-source code, YADIFA is managed by EURid for the benefit of the Internet community.

Analysis performed by EURid shows that YADIFA:

  • Handles more data queries: Under heavy load, EURid found that YADIFA can process up to 30% more queries, without dropping any data, than comparable set-ups using BIND or NSD name server implementations.
  • Loads faster: In the same tests, the .eu registry found that zone file load times for YADIFA were five times faster than for BIND and NSD.
  • Improves server efficiency: With a smaller memory footprint than BIND or NSD, YADIFA consumes less RAM, making servers more effective.

YADIFA is a clean implementation with code written from scratch, so it avoids inheriting any potential weaknesses from other software. YADIFA also has security built-in as it is enabled for the Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC) protocol. All DNSSEC-related events are carried out in real time.

EURid’s name servers run YADIFA and BIND, in addition to the solutions used by external anycast suppliers.

YADIFA at ICANN, Prague

EURid’s Technical Manager, Peter Janssen, is presenting YADIFA to the Internet community at ICANN’s meeting in Prague during the Tech Day session today, 25 June 2012. More information about .eu and YADIFA is available at EURid’s exhibition stand during the ICANN conference (24-29 June 2012).

Source code available

YADIFA is licensed under a BSD 3-Clause License and is portable across the FreeBSD®, Linux®, OpenBSD® and Solaris® operating systems. The YADIFA source code, instruction manual, release roadmap and benchmark results are available at www.yadifa.eu.