Coalition for Digital Africa Advances Monitoring Capabilities: Expanding Top-Level Domain Performance Measurement via IPv6

As we begin 2024, the Coalition for Digital Africa has reached a juncture in its mission to strengthen digital infrastructure across the continent. In a momentous initiative, the Coalition, in collaboration with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), successfully implemented an important enhancement of the service level agreement monitoring (SLAM) system in Africa. This milestone represents a development in the Coalition's ongoing efforts to monitor and improve the performance of Internet services across the continent.

 

Enhancing SLAM System Capabilities

Building on the foundation laid by previous deployments, the SLAM system, which recently incorporated monitoring probe nodes in Lagos, Nigeria, and Cairo, Egypt, in addition to an existing node in Johannesburg, South Africa, has received a transformative upgrade. Recent improvements have enabled these nodes to meticulously monitor both IPv4 and IPv6 transport for the Registration Data Directory Service (RDDS) and Domain Name System (DNS) services provided by top-level domain (TLD) registry operators.  To increase the system's geographical coverage and monitoring capacity, the probe node that was previously located in Cairo has been relocated to Nairobi, Kenya.

 

The impact: Diversified SLA monitoring and enhanced incident detection

The expansion of the SLAM system's probe node network is an important step toward diversifying the monitoring of TLD registry operators' service performance. By employing nodes in various African locations, the system now provides a more comprehensive view, which is critical for detecting any shortcomings in service level agreements. This helps to ensure that TLD registry operators maintain the highest levels of service delivery across Africa. The Coalition is committed to building a strong and secure internet infrastructure with the goal of closing the digital divide and bringing more Africans into the digital age.

 

Global Reach of the SLAM System

The SLAM system, launched in 2013, is a global network of 40 probe nodes that covers all ICANN geographic regions. It is a critical tool for monitoring the availability and performance of TLD critical services in real time, in accordance with the requirements defined in the Base gTLD Registry Agreement's Specification 10.

This update marks a significant step forward in the Coalition for Digital Africa's efforts to improve digital connectivity and resilience across the continent. For more information on this groundbreaking project, please visit www.coalitionfordigitalafrica.africa.

 

Stay tuned for more updates as the Coalition for Digital Africa continues to support digital development across the continent.