Electronics City, Bangalore has a certain buzz to it. Driving through this purpose-built neighborhood, one sees the best of Indian and international IT companies, situated side by side. By an empirical estimate, close to half a million engineers come to work every day to Electronics City. Truly, this is one of the global hotspots for IT development.
In the heart of Electronics City is the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) campus, a training facility where Champika ("Champ") Wijayatunga and I arrived at on the morning of 4 August for a two-day program on Domain Name System Security (DNSSEC) conducted by Champ. This program – offered by ICANN for the first time at C-DAC Bangalore – was special since it was the first to herald C-DAC's Domain Name System (DNS) Centre of Excellence.
On the first day of the program, Champ explained core DNS concepts and covered the operational elements and configurations of DNS servers. Participants were given the opportunity to implement the DNS hierarchy in a lab environment and test the DNS query resolution process. On day two, they deployed authoritative servers and worked on DNS delegations and registrations. DNS Security mechanisms such as Access Control Lists (ACLs) and Transaction Signature (TSIG) were also tested through hands-on lab exercises and an overview of DNSSEC was also provided.
Participants mostly came from C-DAC and other government agencies, including the Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DEITY), National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI), Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), Education and Research Network (ERNET), and Indian Institute of Science (IISc). The participants were particularly appreciative of Champ's deep knowledge of the subject and expressed interest in receiving advanced-level trainings in the future.
Established in 1988, C-DAC is a Government of India company originally conceived for developing indigenous super-computing capabilities. Today, C-DAC works in the areas of high-performance computing, grid and cloud computing, cyber security and cyber forensics, embedded systems, software technologies, multilingual and heritage computing, health informatics and education and training.
ICANN and C-DAC have entered into an understanding where ICANN will support education and training in the area of DNS-related technologies. This is the first of a series of jointly organized trainings.
Champika Wijayatunga also contributed to this report. Samiran is the Head of India, ICANN Asia Pacific, while Champika is the Regional SSR Engagement Manager.