In this episode of PING, Joao Damas from APNIC Labs explores the mechanics of the lab measurement system. Starting over a decade ago with an ‘ActionScript’ (commonly known as ‘Flash’) mechanism and a static ISC Bind DNS configuration cycling through a namespace, APNIC Labs’ advertising measurement system has evolved significantly. It now samples over 15 million end users daily. The system uses JavaScript and a custom DNS setup that dynamically generates DNS names. This setup allows the system to test various Internet Protocol transport options, packet sizes, DNS and DNSSEC parameters, and conduct various Internet routing-related experiments.
Joao explains how the system works, and the mixture of technologies used to achieve the goals. There’s almost no end to the variety of Internet behaviour that the system can measure, as long as it’s capable of being teased out of the user in a javascript-enabled advert backed by the DNS!
Read more about measurement at APNIC Labs:
- Measurements from APNIC Labs
- How we measure: RPKI ROA and ROV (2023)
- How we measure: DNSSEC Validation (2023)
- The APNIC Labs IPv6 Measurement system (2013)
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