SigNet Update

by Jay Kreibich
SigNet is the Special Interest Group interested in computer networks. This year we are continuing our DNS Redirector project in collaboration with CCSO. DNS is the protocol used to translate host names (such as "sleepless.acm.uiuc.edu") into the IP addresses (such as "128.174.38.215") the computer can understand. The DNS project takes in DNS requests and redistributes them to operational campus DNS servers. If a campus DNS server goes down, our system will be able to react and redirect requests. This will greatly improve DNS services should one of the servers go down.

Currently the project is able to redirect requests, but it does so unintelligently. If we can get interested people involved and things go well this semester, we hope to have the code ready for a campus-wide test next semester. For this project we are especially interested in people who want learn about very low level networking and distributed systems.

Other projects we would like to explore this semester include a multicast text based conferencing system called MUMBLE. We hope to explore multicast networking in an attempt to better understand efficient uses of new technology. This is a new and open project. Anyone who is interested in learning how to program with computer networks is encouraged to come out and get involved.

This semester we hope to continue our past successes with workshops on TCP/IP networking theory, and UNIX network programming, along with introductory workshops on various network services. We meet every Wednesday at 7pm in 1102 DCL.