CIRA Annual Report 2007-2008

Bolstered by three new staff positions, includinga Database Developer, CIRA’s Developmentdepartment accomplished most of the redesignof the primary database in autumn 2007. Theredesign also offered the opportunity to upgradeand migrate both databases to Oracle 10g fromOracle 9i to deliver enhanced features, additionalutility, and greater accessibility support.The backup database and the Oracle upgradewere completed together in April with the actualmigration taking place in May 2008.OTHER DEVELOPMENTS IN DEVELOPMENTCIRA’s Development team had a busy yeardesigning and improving software used by theorganization. In addition to supporting coreRegistry systems with minor upgrades and bugfixes, several larger scale projects were alsoundertaken throughout 2008.“schedule. The membership drive andsupporting administrative system, electionssoftware, Annual General Meeting registrationand check-in, and Registrant-passwordretrieval all required significant Developmentresources. The nearly flawless performanceof all these programs — some of them highlycomplex — clearly demonstrates the kind of jobthat CIRA quietly does well.CIRA STAFF PROFILEAs a Systems Administratormy job is to be an overallcomputer manager and theultimate generalist. Sincemy focus is managing DNSServices, I deal more withexternal partners than otherCIRA staff to coordinateCIRA’s contribution tothe international DNShierarchy.— Matthew PounsettDNS Operations Manager”2007–2008 CIRA Annual Report23The Development team supported the newWHOIS which required significant developmentto core systems and an aggressive development