Resources Solution Briefs
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Spam Soap, Inc.
Industry: Managed Services
Use: Streamline Workflow
Fav Tools: MX records, Spam DB, CIDR and Reverse DNS
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Spam Soap, Inc. is a Managed Service Provider, based in Costa Mesa, California, specializing in messaging solutions. They service everything from Email filtering, hosting, and continuity, to archiving and compliance services.
As a small business, optimizing resources is “key”. Kevin Krusiewicz, Director, and his IT team deal extensively with DNS and MX records.
Prior to a colleague turning them on to DNSstuff, they would keep a command tool open in Windows all day long for nslookup as well as a browser opened up with a registrar for whois data. “This was a real time suck for us since we deal with this type of stuff all day long. It wasn’t the level of information we would have liked to have at our finger tips. We were bouncing between multiple applications all day long and really needed to streamline our workflow,” said Kevin.
Today, Spam Soap has MX/WHOIS and other lookups directly integrated into their line-of-business application. “We do hundreds of queries per day and having an automated tool like DNSstuff integrated with our system allows us to automate an otherwise time-intensive task.”
“Basically users login to DNSstuff in the morning and then throughout the day, as lookups are required from within our support application, all we do is click the lookup type we need and PRESTO, we’ve got a lookup and are ready to support our clients.”
Fun Fact
“Spam Soap has sampled beans from all over the globe in search of the perfect cup of coffee. Although our roasting, grinding and brewing methods are proprietary and confidential (much like our email filtering), we can tell you that we lean toward beans from certain Guatemalan farms. For more
information or to discuss a NDA please contact us.” - Kevin Krusiewicz
Kevin’s Bio
• Tool Frequency: Uses tool every day around the clock.
• Tools he uses: MX record, A record, Spam Database Lookup, WHOIS, CIDR/Netmask, and Reverse DNS.
• User since 2005.
• Why DNSstuff Rocks: Easy to use, comprehensive data and saves us a ton of time.
The most important lesson Kevin learned while working in IT is, “IT is about helping people with technology. No matter how much technology we put in place, we can’t replace a positive customer experience coupled with human interaction.”
Kevin Krusiewicz, Director
Spam Soap, Inc.
http://www.spamsoap.com
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Spectator Solis
Industry: Nautical Sales
Use: DNS Migration
Fav Tool: DNSreport,. Whois, and IP Information
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Spectator Solis is part of Spectator Group – a company in the nautical business. The Company has established itself as a competitive and reliable market partner in a remarkably short period. It now enjoys the exclusive reserved agency of reputable world brands including Sunseeker and Elan.
Mario Milišic, an IT system administrator, is a long time user of DNSstuff.com. His challenge is that his business is growing fast - so fast that it’s sometimes hard to keep up with the new people, new jobs, and new challenges every day. And because of this, their website drives a good amount of customer contact.
“I know that nothing is perfect; we all make mistakes…and our equipment is as good as we are. But when something goes wrong, I need quick resolution. I can do all that stuff in cmd, but that is way too slow. Years ago I was looking, searching, digging the web for some useful DNS tools and that is how I
found http://www.dnsstuff.com/”, says Mario.
“I was a little surprised with so many great tools all in one place. From that day on, DNSstuff became my favorite place on the web when I need info about domains and email.”
“A few months ago we had a big problem with our hosting company. They cut us off from their DNSservers because we missed a payment for one of our ADSL accounts. The best part is that they sent the original invoice to a wrong address. So there was no early warning, nothing. The next 6 days were a
complete nightmare. Migrating everything from old to new at the hosting company and trying to make things work again was intense. MX, RDNS, DNS and so many other things to figure out. I was on the edge. Without DNSreport I would have died. DNSstuff gives me what I want…full info about my domains in
a matter of seconds…amazing. You save me time, money and nerves.”
Marios’ favorite tools are:
DNS report
WHOIS
IP information
Mario Milisic, IT system administrator
Spectator Solis/Spectator Avant/Spectator Group
DNSstuff user since 2002
DNSstuff corporate member.
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Tufts Health Plan
Industry: Health Care
Use: 3rd Party Validation and Troubleshooting
Fav Tools: DNSreport, SpamDB, and ReverseDNS
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Tufts Health Plan relies on DNSstuff as an extension of their IT department
Tufts Health Plans mission is to set the standard for outstanding quality health care, service, and value. Part of that value is the availability of their web site and email services to their subscribers.
“DNSstuff makes my life easier, without question. We have tech savvy users and we work hard to stay ahead of any potential web site or email issue! We rely on DNSstuff.com for troubleshooting and diagnostics every week to validate our configurations”, says Frank Pilleri, Sr Messaging Engineer for Tufts Health Plan.
“We are proactively checking to be sure our DNS and network configurations are correct. DNSstuff often gives us early warning and acts as a 3rd party validation. DNSstuff has made us aware of things in the past that have saved us from big IT headaches. It’s another way of checking on a gateway by gateway
basis verifying that external gateways haven't been flagged as a SPAMMING site and to test these same boxes to make sure they are up and running with the proper configuration. We try to be as proactive as possible.”
Tufts Health plan has been a user of DNSstuff tools for over 4 years. “We rely on and trust DNSstuff.com to continue to do what they do best. Our focus is healthcare and an exceptional online experience. DNSstuff.com helps ensure that our site is always available for our members.”
Frank’s favorite tools:
1)DNSreport
2)SPAM database lookup
3)Reverse DNS
DNSstuff users since 2004.
DNSstuff Corporate Members.
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National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC)
Industry: Law Enforcement
Use: Criminal Investigations
Fav Tools: Whois, IP Information, and TraceRoute
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DNSstuff has been an invaluable tool to the analysts in the Exploited Child Division at the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC). This division receives leads that come in through the CyberTipline, NCMEC’s Congressionally-mandated reporting mechanism for child sexual exploitation. The analysts then review, process, and add value to these leads with the ultimate goal of forwarding them to law enforcement for investigation.
Success in our field hinges on our analysts’ ability to determine a possible location for suspects involved in the sexual exploitation of children. In some cases, the only information available is an Internet Protocol address, making it crucial that quick, reliable WHOIS look-ups be at our fingertips.
Our staff relies on DNSstuff for assistance in locating suspects and providing investigative leads to law-enforcement agencies. These leads have led to numerous arrests and convictions.
In one case, DNSstuff was used to track the registrant of a child pornography website. The resulting investigation led to an individual who was sexually abusing a child and distributing sexually explicit images of her online. The offender will be spending the next 60 years in prison, but more importantly,
the child victim has been rescued from her abuser. In another case, DNSstuff helped us trace the location of an individual who was trading child pornography online. As it turned out, he was a teacher who had access to hundreds of children. This offender has since been arrested.
The contribution DNSstuff has made to the successful resolution of these cases and countless others is immeasurable. We, at the Exploited Child Division, are very fortunate to have such an excellent tool
at our disposal.
Favorite tools: Reverse DNS and Traceroute
www.cybertipline.com
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Purple Dogfish
Industry: Web Design
Use: Customer Service
Fav Tools: DNS Lookup, DNSreport, and IP Information |
DNSstuff helps Purple Dogfish swim fast for their clients
“For a small company like ours that prides itself on customer service, DNSstuff is invaluable. We go out of our way to make sure that domain transfers, client site launches or hosting changes are as seamless as possible. Therefore we need quick, up-to-date and valid information on infrastructure changes and that is what DNSstuff gives us. I know that I could open up a Terminal prompt and most of the tools I would need would be available locally but there is no other service that aggregates everything I could possibly want into one place and provides a great interface to access them all.
Even the ‘non-techies in our company use it!”, said Greg Salt of Purple Dogfish – a top design firm in the UK.
Purple Dogfish uses DNSstuff.com at least once or twice a day - proactively investigating potentially malicious activity on servers or those of their clients and use DNSstuff tools as part of that process.
“Basically, DNSstuff is important to our business because it makes our business better.”
Greg’s favorite tools:
1. DNS Lookup
2. DNS Report
3. IP Information
BIGGEST DNS HORROR STORY:
“On one occasion a client was in dispute with a previous developer. The developer registered a similar domain name and pointed it at very unsavory material. You can imagine the stress our client was under. We were able to reassure them we could help easily and recover what they thought was a
disaster. We used DNSstuff in combination with some other tools to collect all the information needed by their lawyers, then once the cease and desist letter was received we were able to track the domain name to make sure that the request was being complied with. This sort of thing doesn't happen often,
as most developers are professionals, but when it does it's good to be able to remain calm and reassuring when your clients are in a bit of a flap.”
Fun tidbit about Purple Dogfish: One of their most important staff members is Skateboard the dog. They pass her the phone when they get unwanted sales calls.
DNSstuff user since 2004.
DNSstuff corporate member.
www.purpledogfish.co.uk
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Herman Miller
Industry: Office Furniture
Use: 3rd Party Validation
Fav Tools: MX Lookup, Email Test, and SpamDB
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Herman Miller is serious about office chairs and DNS.
What arrives on the truck is furniture. What went into the truck was an amalgam of what they believe in: innovation, design, operational excellence, smart application of technology, and social responsibility.
“DNSstuff.com has been my one-stop resource for a variety of information over the last few years. I've found it to be a very valuable way to run tests and to check on a wide variety of information. It gives me an unbiased (external) way to check on some of the systems we maintain, states Bill Buhl , Domino Infrastructure/Systems Administration for Herman Miller.
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DNSstuff.com is also my first stop for a second opinion when it comes to MX lookups, mail testing and more. That second opinion saves me a lot of time and lets me focus my effort on a problem correctly and with confidence. No more wondering if "it's just us" or if it's happening to everyone.”
Bill’s favorite tools:
1. DNS Lookup
2. Email Test
3. Spam Database Lookup
“It seems that every imaginable tool is available at a single, convenient site. No need to look anywhere else. I've watched the site evolve and grow over the last few years and with each change it shines a little more. DNSstuff helps stay ahead with our technology and ultimately provides a positive user experience for our site visitors!”
Cool company tidbit: They are famous for their occasional paper air plane throwing contests (closest to bull's-eye wins). Apparently the IT team is hard to beat!
DNSstuff users since 2003.
DNSstuff Corporate Member.
www.hermanmiller.com
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Sisters of Charity Providence Hospitals
Industry: Charity
Use: Office Move
Fav Tools: DNSreport, Email Test, SpamDB, DNS Lookup
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DNSstuff makes TOP of “favorites list” for Sisters of Charity Providence Hospitals.
“DNSstuff is the first place I go when I have a DNS related issue. I always find an answer. I can count on it.”, said Chris Cavin, Network Engineer for Sisters of Charity Providence Hospital. Cavin has been using DNSstuff.com for work and personal IT diagnostics since DNSstuff began – over 5 years
ago. “I am a firm believer in DNSstuff…huge fan!”.
Chris’ favorite tools:
1. Email test
2. SPAM database lookup
3. DNS Lookup
4. DNSreport
“Funny thing is that our staff often asks about why their email is not working. I simply run the email test tool and send the results – usually proving it’s not on our end.” As a veteran IT professional, Chris needs tools that are fast and reliable. His biggest DNS nightmare was an office move and he turned to DNSreport to solve this problem…mx records changed, reverse DNS issues, typo - you name it – DNSstuff saved the day and continues to exceed his expectations.
“I always wondered how this awesome site was FREE. The new membership fee was no problem at all. It doesn’t even compare to the usefulness of the site. I have come to expect the best. It is on the top of my “favorites list”, no doubt. I am thrilled with how this site is evolving. I tell everyone to check it out.”
DNSstuff users since 2002.
DNSstuff Corporate member.
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