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--- a/contrib/bind/doc/misc/FAQ.1of2
+++ b/contrib/bind/doc/misc/FAQ.1of2
@@ -1,382 +1,513 @@
Newsgroups: comp.protocols.tcp-ip.domains,comp.answers,news.answers
-Path: vixie!news1.digital.com!uunet!in1.uu.net!usc!rutgers!njitgw.njit.edu!hertz.njit.edu!cdp2582
-From: cdp@njit.edu (Chris Peckham)
+Path: vixie!news1.digital.com!su-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!cpk-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!news.bbnplanet.com!cam-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!news.mathworks.com!news.kei.com!uhog.mit.edu!rutgers!njitgw.njit.edu!hertz.njit.edu!cdp2582
+From: cdp2582@hertz.njit.edu (Chris Peckham)
Subject: comp.protocols.tcp-ip.domains Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) (Part 1 of 2)
-Message-ID: <cptd-faq-1-810621452@njit.edu>
+Message-ID: <cptd-faq-1-849940949@njit.edu>
Followup-To: comp.protocols.tcp-ip.domains
Originator: cdp2582@hertz.njit.edu
Keywords: BIND,DOMAIN,DNS
Sender: news@njit.edu
-Supersedes: <cptd-faq-1-807632375@njit.edu>
+Supersedes: <cptd-faq-1-847336183@njit.edu>
Nntp-Posting-Host: hertz.njit.edu
-X-Posting-Frequency: posted on the 1st of each month
+X-Posting-Frequency: posted during the first week of each month
Reply-To: domain-faq@njit.edu (comp.protocols.tcp-ip.domains FAQ comments)
Organization: NJIT.EDU - New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ, USA
-Date: Sat, 9 Sep 1995 04:37:47 GMT
+Date: Sat, 7 Dec 1996 06:42:36 GMT
Approved: news-answers-request@MIT.EDU
-Expires: Sat 14 Oct 95 00:37:32 EDT
-Lines: 1319
-Xref: vixie comp.protocols.tcp-ip.domains:6018 comp.answers:13881 news.answers:49918
+Expires: Sat 11 Jan 97 02:42:29 EDT
+Lines: 1582
+Xref: vixie comp.protocols.tcp-ip.domains:12904 comp.answers:22440 news.answers:85682
Posted-By: auto-faq 3.1.1.2
Archive-name: internet/tcp-ip/domains-faq/part1
-Revision: 1.6 1995/05/12 18:49:48
+Revision: 1.14 1996/12/07 06:42:05
-This FAQ is edited and maintained by Chris Peckham, <cdp@njit.edu>.
-The latest version may always be found for anonymous ftp from
+Note that this posting has been split into two parts because of its size.
- ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/internet/tcp-ip/domains-faq
- ftp://ftp.njit.edu/pub/dns/Comp.protocols.tcp-ip.domains.FAQ
+$Id: FAQ.1of2,v 8.4 1996/12/18 04:09:47 vixie Exp $
+
+A new version of this document appears monthly. If this copy is more
+than a month old it may be out of date.
+
+This FAQ is edited and maintained by Chris Peckham, <cdp@pfmc.net>. The
+most recently posted version may be found for anonymous ftp from
+
+rtfm.mit.edu : /pub/usenet/news.answers/internet/tcp-ip/domains-faq
+
+It is also available in HTML from
+http://www.users.pfmc.net/~cdp/cptd-faq/.
If you can contribute any answers for items in the TODO section, please do
-so by sending e-mail to domain-faq@njit.edu ! If you know of any items that
-are not included and you feel that they should be, send the relevant
-information to domain-faq@njit.edu.
-
-
-------------------------------
-
-Date: Fri May 12 14:41:47 EDT 1995
-Subject: Table of Contents
-
-Table of Contents
-=================
-Part 1
-------
- 0. TO DO
- 1. INTRODUCTION / MISCELLANEOUS
- 1.1 What is this newsgroup ?
- 1.2 More information
- 1.3 What is BIND and where is the latest version of BIND ?
- 1.4 How can I find the route between systems ?
- 1.5 Finding the hostname if you have the tcp-ip address
- 1.6 How to register a domain name
- 1.7 Change of Domain name
- 1.8 How memory and CPU does DNS use ?
- 1.9 Other things to consider when planning your servers
- 1.10 Proper way to get NS and reverse IP records into DNS
- 1.11 How to get my address assign from NIC?
- 1.12 Is there a block of private IP addresses I can use?
- 1.13 Cache failed lookups
- 1.14 What does an NS record really do ?
- 1.15 DNS ports
- 1.16 Obtaining the latest cache file
- 2. UTILITIES
- 2.1 Utilities to administer DNS zone files
- 2.2 DIG - Domain Internet Groper
- 2.3 DNS packet analyzer
- 2.4 host
- 2.5 Programming with DNS
- 2.6 A source of information relating to DNS
- 3. DEFINITIONS
- 3.1 TCP/IP Host Naming Conventions
- 3.2 Slaves and servers with forwarders
- 3.3 When is a server authoritative?
- 3.4 Underscore in host-/domain names
- 3.5 Lame delegation
- 3.6 What does opt-class field do?
- 3.7 Top level domains
- 3.8 Classes of networks
- 3.9 What is CIDR ?
- 3.10 What is the rule for glue ?
-
-Part 2
-------
- 4. CONFIGURATION
- 4.1 Changing a Secondary server to a Primary
- 4.2 How do I subnet a Class B Address ?
- 4.3 Subnetted domain name service
- 4.4 Recommended format/style of DNS files
- 4.5 DNS on a system not connected to the Internet
- 4.6 Multiple Domain configuration
- 4.7 wildcard MX records
- 4.8 How to identify a wildcard MX record
- 4.9 Why are fully qualified domain names recommended ?
- 4.10 Distributing load using named
- 4.11 Order of returned records
- 4.12 resolv.conf
- 4.13 Delegating authority
- 4.14 DNS instead of NIS on a Sun OS 4.1.x system
- 5. PROBLEMS
- 5.1 No address for root server
- 5.2 Error - No Root Nameservers for Class XX
- 5.3 Bind 4.9.x and MX querying?
- 5.4 Some root nameservers don't know localhost
- 5.5 MX records and CNAMES and separate A records for MX targets
- 5.6 NS is a CNAME
- 5.7 Nameserver forgets own A record
- 5.8 General problems (core dumps !)
- 5.9 malloc and DECstations
- 6. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
-
-------------------------------
-
-Date: Wed May 3 12:55:13 EDT 1995
-Subject: Q0 - TO DO list
-
-
-* How to do an initial installation
-* How to change service providers (what happens)
-* Explain the difference between BIND (an implementation) and DNS (spec)
-* Expand the slave/forward section of Q 3.2
-* Add a definition of a "private domain" in discussion (or cut it out)
-* mention mail-to-news gateways for newsgroup, mailing lists, anonymous
- ftp, etc in what is newsgroup section
-* The evils of wildcard MX records
-
-
-
--------------------------------
+so by sending e-mail to <domain-faq@pfmc.net> ! If you know of any items
+that are not included and you feel that they should be, send the
+relevant information to <domain-faq@pfmc.net>.
+
+===============================================================================
+
+Index
+
+ Section 1. TO DO / UPDATES
+ Q1.1 Contributions needed
+ Q1.2 UPDATES / Changes since last posting
+
+ Section 2. INTRODUCTION / MISCELLANEOUS
+ Q2.1 What is this newsgroup ?
+ Q2.2 More information
+ Q2.3 What is BIND ?
+ Q2.4 What is the difference between BIND and DNS ?
+ Q2.5 Where is the latest version of BIND located ?
+ Q2.6 How can I find the path taken between two systems/domains ?
+ Q2.7 How do you find the hostname given the TCP-IP address ?
+ Q2.8 How do I register a domain ?
+ Q2.9 How can I change the IP address of our server ?
+ Q2.10 Issues when changing your domain name
+ Q2.11 How memory and CPU does DNS use ?
+ Q2.12 Other things to consider when planning your servers
+ Q2.13 Proper way to get NS and reverse IP records into DNS
+ Q2.14 How do I get my address assigned from the NIC ?
+ Q2.15 Is there a block of private IP addresses I can use?
+ Q2.16 Does BIND cache negative answers (failed DNS lookups) ?
+ Q2.17 What does an NS record really do ?
+ Q2.18 DNS ports
+ Q2.19 What is the cache file
+ Q2.20 Obtaining the latest cache file
+ Q2.21 Selecting a nameserver/root cache
+ Q2.22 InterNIC and domain names
+
+ Section 3. UTILITIES
+ Q3.1 Utilities to administer DNS zone files
+ Q3.2 DIG - Domain Internet Groper
+ Q3.3 DNS packet analyser
+ Q3.4 host
+ Q3.5 How can I use DNS information in my program?
+ Q3.6 A source of information relating to DNS
+
+ Section 4. DEFINITIONS
+ Q4.1 TCP/IP Host Naming Conventions
+ Q4.2 What are slaves and forwarders ?
+ Q4.3 When is a server authoritative?
+ Q4.4 My server does not consider itself authoritative !
+ Q4.5 NS records don't configure servers as authoritative ?
+ Q4.6 underscore in host-/domainnames
+ Q4.7 What is lame delegation ?
+ Q4.8 How can I see if the server is "lame" ?
+ Q4.9 What does opt-class field in a zone file do?
+ Q4.10 Top level domains
+ Q4.11 Classes of networks
+ Q4.12 What is CIDR ?
+ Q4.13 What is the rule for glue ?
+
+ Section 5. CONFIGURATION
+ Q5.1 Changing a Secondary server to a Primary server ?
+ Q5.2 Moving a Primary server to another server
+ Q5.3 How do I subnet a Class B Address ?
+ Q5.4 Subnetted domain name service
+ Q5.5 Recommended format/style of DNS files
+ Q5.6 DNS on a system not connected to the Internet
+ Q5.7 Multiple Domain configuration
+ Q5.8 wildcard MX records
+ Q5.9 How do you identify a wildcard MX record ?
+ Q5.10 Why are fully qualified domain names recommended ?
+ Q5.11 Distributing load using named
+ Q5.12 Order of returned records
+ Q5.13 resolv.conf
+ Q5.14 How do I delegate authority for sub-domains ?
+ Q5.15 DNS instead of NIS on a Sun OS 4.1.x system
+ Q5.16 Patches to add functionality to BIND
+ Q5.17 How to serve multiple domains from one server
+
+ Section 6. PROBLEMS
+ Q6.1 No address for root server
+ Q6.2 Error - No Root Nameservers for Class XX
+ Q6.3 Bind 4.9.x and MX querying?
+ Q6.4 Do I need to define an A record for localhost ?
+ Q6.5 MX records, CNAMES and A records for MX targets
+ Q6.6 Can an NS record point to a CNAME ?
+ Q6.7 Nameserver forgets own A record
+ Q6.8 General problems (core dumps !)
+ Q6.9 malloc and DECstations
+ Q6.10 Can't resolve names without a "."
+ Q6.11 Err/TO errors being reported
+ Q6.12 Why does swapping kill BIND ?
+
+ Section 7. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
+ Q7.1 How is this FAQ generated ?
+ Q7.2 What formats are available ?
+ Q7.3 Contributors
+
+===============================================================================
+
+Section 1. TO DO / UPDATES
+
+ Q1.1 Contributions needed
+ Q1.2 UPDATES / Changes since last posting
+
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+Question 1.1. Contributions needed
+
+Date: Fri Dec 6 00:40:00 EST 1996
+
+* Expand the slave/forward section
+
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+Question 1.2. UPDATES / Changes since last posting
+
+Date: Fri Dec 6 00:40:00 EST 1996
+
+* The FAQ is now maintained in BFNN (Bizzare format with No Name). This
+ allows me to create ASCII, HTML, and GNU info (postscript coming soon)
+ from one source file.
+* References to 4.9.4 changed to 4.9.5.
+* memory/CPU usage question - removed uunet map reference. Not there...
+* Minor edits of information and questions for new format.
+* How do I delegate authority for sub-domains ? - edited answer
+
+===============================================================================
+
+Section 2. INTRODUCTION / MISCELLANEOUS
+
+ Q2.1 What is this newsgroup ?
+ Q2.2 More information
+ Q2.3 What is BIND ?
+ Q2.4 What is the difference between BIND and DNS ?
+ Q2.5 Where is the latest version of BIND located ?
+ Q2.6 How can I find the path taken between two systems/domains ?
+ Q2.7 How do you find the hostname given the TCP-IP address ?
+ Q2.8 How do I register a domain ?
+ Q2.9 How can I change the IP address of our server ?
+ Q2.10 Issues when changing your domain name
+ Q2.11 How memory and CPU does DNS use ?
+ Q2.12 Other things to consider when planning your servers
+ Q2.13 Proper way to get NS and reverse IP records into DNS
+ Q2.14 How do I get my address assigned from the NIC ?
+ Q2.15 Is there a block of private IP addresses I can use?
+ Q2.16 Does BIND cache negative answers (failed DNS lookups) ?
+ Q2.17 What does an NS record really do ?
+ Q2.18 DNS ports
+ Q2.19 What is the cache file
+ Q2.20 Obtaining the latest cache file
+ Q2.21 Selecting a nameserver/root cache
+ Q2.22 InterNIC and domain names
+
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+Question 2.1. What is this newsgroup ?
Date: Thu Dec 1 11:08:28 EST 1994
-Subject: Q1.1 - What is this newsgroup ?
-comp.protocols.tcp-ip.domains is the usenet newsgroup for discussion
-on issues relating to the Domain Name System (DNS).
+comp.protocols.tcp-ip.domains is the usenet newsgroup for discussion on
+issues relating to the Domain Name System (DNS).
This newsgroup is not for issues directly relating to IP routing and
addressing. Issues of that nature should be directed towards
comp.protocols.tcp-ip.
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------
+Question 2.2. More information
+
+Date: Fri Dec 6 00:41:03 EST 1996
+You can find more information concerning DNS in the following places:
-Date: Fri May 12 13:54:01 EDT 1995
-Subject: Q1.2 - More information
+* The BOG (BIND Operations Guide) - in the BIND distribution
+* The FAQ included with BIND 4.9.5 in doc/misc/FAQ
+* DNS and BIND by Albitz and Liu (an O'Reilly & Associates Nutshell
+ handbook)
+* A number of RFCs (920, 974, 1032, 1034, 1101, 1123, 1178, 1183, 1348,
+ 1535, 1536, 1537, 1591, 1706, 1712, 1713, 1912, 1918)
+* The DNS Resources Directory (DNSRD) http://www.dns.net/dnsrd/
+* If you are having troubles relating to sendmail and DNS, you may wish to
+ refer to the USEnet newsgroup comp.mail.sendmail and/or the FAQ for that
+ newsgroup which may be found for anonymous ftp at rtfm.mit.edu :
+ /pub/usenet/news.answers/mail/sendmail-faq
+* Information concerning some frequently asked questions relating to the
+ Internet (i.e., what is the InterNIC, what is an RFC, what is the IETF,
+ etc) may be found for anonymous ftp from ds.internic.net : /fyi/fyi4.txt
+ A version may also be obtained with the URL
+ gopher://ds.internic.net/00/fyi/fyi4.txt.
+* Information on performing an initial installation of BIND may be found
+ using the DNS Resources Directory at
+ http://www.dns.net/dnsrd/docs/basic.txt
+* Three other USEnet newsgroups:
- You can find more information concerning DNS in the following places:
-
- * The BOG (BIND Operations Guide) - in the BIND distribution
- * The FAQ included with bind4.9.3 doc/misc/FAQ
- * DNS and BIND by Albitz and Liu (an O'Reilly & Associates Nutshell
- handbook)
- * A number of RFCs (920, 974, 1032, 1034, 1101, 1123, 1178, 1183, 1348,
- 1535, 1536, 1537, 1591, 1706, 1712, 1713)
- * The DNS Resource Directory (DNSRD)
- http://www.dns.net/dnsrd
- * If you are having troubles relating to sendmail and DNS, you may wish to
- refer to the USEnet newsgroup comp.mail.sendmail and/or the FAQ for that
- newsgroup
- ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/mail/sendmail-faq
- * Information concerning some frequently asked questions relating to
- the Internet (i.e., what is the InterNIC, what is an RFC, what is the
- IETF, etc) may be found for anonymous ftp from
- ftp://ds.internic.net/fyi/fyi4.txt
- A version may also be obtained with the URL
- gopher://ds.internic.net/00/fyi/fyi4.txt
-
-
--------------------------------
-
-Date: Fri Aug 4 10:18:58 EDT 1995
-Subject: Q1.3 - What is BIND and where is the latest version of BIND ?
-
-Q: What is BIND ?
-
-A: From the BOG Introduction -
-
- The Berkeley Internet Name Domain (BIND) implements
- an Internet name server for the BSD operating system.
- The BIND consists of a server (or ``daemon'') and a
- resolver library. A name server is a network service
- that enables clients to name resources or objects and
- share this information with other objects in the network.
- This in effect is a distributed data base system for
- objects in a computer network. BIND is fully integrated
- into BSD (4.3 and later releases) network programs for
- use in storing and retrieving host names and address.
- The system administrator can configure the system to use
- BIND as a replacement to the older host table lookup of
- information in the network hosts file /etc/hosts. The
- default configuration for BSD uses BIND.
-
-Q: Where is the latest non-beta version of BIND ?
-
-A: The latest non-beta version of BIND is version 4.9.2. This can be
- found for anonymous ftp from
-
- ftp://gatekeeper.dec.com/pub/misc/vixie/4.9.2-940221.tar.gz
-
-Q: Where is the latest version of 4.9.3 located ?
+ * comp.protocols.dns.bind
+ * comp.protocols.dns.ops
+ * comp.protocols.dns.std
-A: You can reference this URL:
-
- http://www.isc.org/isc/
-
- At this time, the latest version of 4.9.3 may be found for anonymous ftp
- from
-
- ftp://ftp.vix.com/pub/bind/testing/bind-4.9.3-BETA24.tar.gz
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
- You will need GNU zip, Larry Wall's patch program (if there are any
- patch files), and a C compiler to get BIND running from the above
- mentioned source.
+Question 2.3. What is BIND ?
- GNU zip is available for anonymous ftp from
+Date: Tue Sep 10 23:15:58 EDT 1996
- ftp://prep.ai.mit.edu/pub/gnu/gzip-1.2.4.tar
+From the BOG Introduction -
- patch is available for anonymous ftp from
+The Berkeley Internet Name Domain (BIND) implements an Internet name
+server for the BSD operating system. The BIND consists of a server (or
+``daemon'') and a resolver library. A name server is a network
+service that enables clients to name resources or objects and share this
+information with other objects in the network. This in effect is a
+distributed data base system for objects in a computer network. BIND
+is fully integrated into BSD (4.3 and later releases) network programs
+for use in storing and retrieving host names and address. The system
+administrator can configure the system to use BIND as a replacement to
+the older host table lookup of information in the network hosts file
+/etc/hosts. The default configuration for BSD uses BIND.
- ftp://prep.ai.mit.edu/pub/gnu/patch-2.1.tar.gz
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------
+Question 2.4. What is the difference between BIND and DNS ?
-Date: Mon Jan 2 13:27:27 EST 1995
-Subject: Q1.4 - How can I find the route between systems
+Date: Tue Sep 10 23:15:58 EDT 1996
-Q: How can I find the path taken by packets between two systems/domains ?
-
-A: Get the source of the 'traceroute' command, compile it and install
- it on your system.
+(text provided by Andras Salamon) DNS is the Domain Name System, a set of
+protocols for a distributed database that was originally designed to
+replace /etc/hosts files. DNS is most commonly used by applications to
+translate domain names of hosts to IP addresses. A client of the DNS is
+called a resolver; resolvers are typically located in the application
+layer of the networking software of each TCP/IP capable machine. Users
+typically do not interact directly with the resolver. Resolvers query the
+DNS by directing queries at name servers that contain parts of the
+distributed database that is accessed by using the DNS protocols. In
+common usage, `the DNS' usually refers just to the data in the database.
- One version of this program with additional functionality may be found
- for anonymous ftp from
+BIND (Berkeley Internet Name Domain) is an implementation of DNS, both
+server and client. Development of BIND is funded by the Internet Software
+Consortium and is coordinated by Paul Vixie. BIND has been ported to
+Windows NT and VMS, but is most often found on Unix. BIND source code is
+freely available and very complex; most of the development on the DNS
+protocols is based on this code; and most Unix vendors ship BIND-derived
+DNS implementations. As a result, the BIND name server is the most widely
+used name server on the Internet. In common usage, `BIND' usually refers
+to the name server that is part of the BIND distribution, and sometimes to
+name servers in general (whether BIND-derived or not).
- ftp://ftp.nikhef.nl/pub/network/traceroute.tar.Z
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
- This package is mirrored at
+Question 2.5. Where is the latest version of BIND located ?
- ftp://ftp.njit.edu/pub/dns/nikhef/traceroute.tar.Z
+Fri Dec 6 00:23:19 EST 1996
- Another version may be found for anonymous ftp from
+This information may be found at http://www.vix.com/isc/bind.html
- ftp://ftp.psc.edu/pub/net_tools/traceroute.tar
+At this time, BIND version of 4.9.5 may be found for anonymous ftp from
-
-------------------------------
+ftp.vix.com : /pub/bind/release/4.9.5/bind-4.9.5-REL.tar.gz
+
+Other sites that officially mirror the BIND distribution are
+
+* bind.fit.qut.edu.au : /pub/bind
+* ftp.funet.fi : /pub/unix/tcpip/dns/bind
+* ftp.univ-lyon1.fr : /pub/mirrors/unix/bind
+* ftp.oleane.net : /pub/mirrors/unix/bind
+* ftp.ucr.ac.cr : /pub/Unix/dns/bind
+* ftp.luth.se : /pub/unix/dns/bind/beta
+
+You may need GNU zip, Larry Wall's patch program (if there are any patch
+files), and a C compiler to get BIND running from the above mentioned
+source.
+
+GNU zip is available for anonymous ftp from
+
+prep.ai.mit.edu : /pub/gnu/gzip-1.2.4.tar
+
+patch is available for anonymous ftp from
+
+prep.ai.mit.edu : /pub/gnu/patch-2.1.tar.gz
+
+A version of BIND for Windows NT is available for anonymous ftp from
+
+ftp.vix.com : /pub/bind/release/4.9.5/contrib/ntdns495relbin.zip
+
+and
+
+ftp.vix.com : /pub/bind/release/4.9.5/contrib/ntbind495rel.zip
+
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+Question 2.6. How can I find the path taken between two systems/domains ?
+
+Date: Fri Dec 6 00:10:31 EST 1996
+
+On a Unix system, use traceroute. If it is not available to you, you may
+obtain the source source for 'traceroute', compile it and install it on
+your system.
+
+One version of this program with additional functionality may be found for
+anonymous ftp from
+
+ftp.nikhef.nl : /pub/network/traceroute.tar.Z
+
+Another version may be found for anonymous ftp from
+
+ftp.psc.edu : /pub/net_tools/traceroute.tar
+
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+Question 2.7. How do you find the hostname given the TCP-IP address ?
Date: Thu Dec 1 09:55:24 EST 1994
-Subject: Q1.5 - Finding the hostname if you have the tcp-ip address
-Q: Can someone tell me how can I find the name of the domain if I know the
- tcp-ip address of the domain? Is there some kind of service for this?
-
-A: For an address a.b.c.d you can always do:
-
-% nslookup
-> set q=ptr
-> d.c.b.a.in-addr.arpa.
+For an address a.b.c.d you can always do:
- Most newer version of nslookup (since 4.8.3) will recognize an address,
- so you can just say:
+ % nslookup
+ > set q=ptr
+ > d.c.b.a.in-addr.arpa.
-% nslookup a.b.c.d
-
- DiG will work like this also:
-
-$ dig -x a.b.c.d
+Most newer version of nslookup (since 4.8.3) will recognize an address, so
+you can just say:
- Host from the contrib/host from the bind distribution may also be used.
+ % nslookup a.b.c.d
--------------------------------
-
-Date: Fri Apr 28 13:16:32 EDT 1995
-Subject: Q1.6 - How to register a domain name
+DiG will work like this also:
-Q: I would like to register a domain. How do I do this ? Can a name be
- reserved, or must we already have an IP address and be hooked up to the
- Internet before obtaining a domain name?
-
-A: You can talk to your Internet Service Provider (ISP). They can submit
- the registration for you. If you are not going to be directly
- connected, they should be able to offer MX records for your domain
- for mail delivery (so that mail sent to the new domain will be sent
- to your "standard" account). In the case where the registration is
- done by the organization itself, it still makes the whole process
- much easier if the ISP is approached for secondary servers _before_
- the InterNIC is approached for registration.
-
- For information about making the registration yourself, look to the
- InterNIC !
+ % dig -x a.b.c.d
- ftp://internic.net/templates/
- gopher://rs.internic.net/
- http://www.internic.net/infoguide.html
- http://www.ripe.net
-
- You will need at least two domain name servers when you register your
- domain. Many ISP's are willing to provide primary and/or secondary name
- service for their customers.
+host from the contrib/host from the bind distribution may also be used.
+
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+Question 2.8. How do I register a domain ?
- Many times, registration of a domain name can be initiated by sending
- e-mail to the zone contact. You can obtain the contact in the
- SOA record for the country, or in a whois server:
+Date: Wed Sep 4 23:59:42 EDT 1996
+
+You can talk to your Internet Service Provider (ISP). They can submit the
+registration for you. If you are not going to be directly connected, they
+should be able to offer MX records for your domain for mail delivery (so
+that mail sent to the new domain will be sent to your "standard" account).
+In the case where the registration is done by the organization itself, it
+still makes the whole process much easier if the ISP is approached for
+secondary servers _before_ the InterNIC is approached for registration.
+
+For information about making the registration yourself, look to the
+InterNIC (or other similar organization).
+
+* anonymout ftp from internic.net : /templates
+* gopher://rs.internic.net/
+* http://rs.internic.net/reg/reg-forms.html
+* http://www.ripe.net/
+
+You will need at least two domain name servers when you register your
+domain. Many ISP's are willing to provide primary and/or secondary name
+service for their customers.
+
+Please note that the InterNIC is now charging a fee for domain names in
+the "COM", "ORG", and "NET". More information may be found from the
+Internic at
+
+http://rs.internic.net/domain-info/fee-policy.html
+
+Many times, registration of a domain name can be initiated by sending
+e-mail to the zone contact. You can obtain the contact in the SOA record
+for the country, or in a whois server:
$ nslookup -type=SOA fr.
origin = ns1.nic.fr
mail addr = nic.nic.fr
...
-
- The mail address to contact in this case is 'nic@nic.fr' (you must
- substitute an '@' for the first dot in the mail addr field).
-
- An alternate method to obtain the e-mail address of the national NIC
- is the 'whois' server at InterNIC.
- You may be requested to make your request to another email address or
- using a certain information template/application.
+The mail address to contact in this case is 'nic@nic.fr' (you must
+substitute an '@' for the first dot in the mail addr field).
+
+An alternate method to obtain the e-mail address of the national NIC is
+the 'whois' server at InterNIC.
+
+You may be requested to make your request to another email address or
+using a certain information template/application.
+
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+Question 2.9. How can I change the IP address of our server ?
+
+Date: Sun May 5 22:46:28 EDT 1996
+(From Mark Andrews) Before the move.
--------------------------------
+* Ensure you are running a modern nameserver. BIND 4.9.3-REL + Patch1 is a
+ good choice.
+* Inform all your secondaries that you are going to change. Have them
+ install both the current and new addresses in their named.boot's.
+* Drop the ttl of the A's associated with the nameserver to something
+ small (5 min is usually good).
+* Drop the refesh and retry times of the zone containing the forward
+ records for the server.
+* Configure the new reverse zone before the move and make sure it is
+ operational.
+* On the day of the move add the new A record(s) for the server. Don't
+ forget to have these added to parent domains. You will look like you are
+ multihomed with one interface dead.
+
+Move the machine after gracefully terminating any other services it is
+offering. Then,
+
+* Fixup the A's, ttl, refresh and retry counters. (If you are running an
+ all server EDIT out all references to the old addresses in the cache
+ files).
+* Inform all the secondaries the move is complete.
+* Inform the parents of all zones you are primary of the new NS/A pairs
+ for the relevent zones.
+* Inform all the administators of zones you are secondaring that the
+ machine has moved.
+* For good measure update the serial no for all zones you are primary for.
+ This will flush out old A's.
+
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+Question 2.10. Issues when changing your domain name
Date: Sun Nov 27 23:32:41 EST 1994
-Subject: Q1.7 - Change of Domain name
-
-Q: We are preparing for a change of our domain name:
- abc.foobar.com -> foobar.net
-
- What are the tricks and caveats we should be aware of ?
-
-A: The forward zones are easy and there are a number of ways to do it.
- One way is the following:
-
- Have a single db file for the 2 domains, and have a single machine
- be the primary server for both abc.foobar.com and foobar.net.
-
- To resolve the host foo in both domains, use a single zone file which
- merely uses this for the host:
-
+
+If you are changing your domain name from abc.foobar.com to foobar.net,
+the forward zones are easy and there are a number of ways to do it. One
+way is the following:
+
+Have a single db file for the 2 domains, and have a single machine be the
+primary server for both abc.foobar.com and foobar.net.
+
+To resolve the host foo in both domains, use a single zone file which
+merely uses this for the host:
+
foo IN A 1.2.3.4
-
- Use a "@" wherever the domain would be used ie for the SOA:
+
+Use a "@" wherever the domain would be used ie for the SOA:
@ IN SOA (...
-
- Then use this pair of lines in your named.boot:
+
+Then use this pair of lines in your named.boot:
primary abc.foobar.com db.foobar
primary foobar.net db.foobar
-
- The reverse zones should either contain PTRs to both names,
- or to whichever name you believe to be canonical currently.
--------------------------------
+The reverse zones should either contain PTRs to both names, or to
+whichever name you believe to be canonical currently.
-Date: Fri Apr 28 13:52:20 EDT 1995
-Subject: Q1.8 - How memory and CPU does DNS use ?
-
-Q: How much memory and CPU does DNS use ?
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+Question 2.11. How memory and CPU does DNS use ?
+
+Date: Fri Dec 6 01:07:56 EST 1996
-A: It can use quite a bit ! The main thing that BIND needs is memory.
- It uses very little CPU or network bandwidth. The main
- considerations to keep in mind when planning are:
+It can use quite a bit ! The main thing that BIND needs is memory. It
+uses very little CPU or network bandwidth. The main considerations to
+keep in mind when planning are:
- 1) How many zones do you have and how large are they ?
- 2) How many clients do you expect to serve and how active are they ?
+* How many zones do you have and how large are they ?
+* How many clients do you expect to serve and how active are they ?
- As an example, here is a snapshot of memory usage from CSIRO Division
- of Mathematics and Statistics, Australia
+As an example, here is a snapshot of memory usage from CSIRO Division of
+Mathematics and Statistics, Australia
Named takes several days to stabalize its memory usage.
Our main server stabalises at ~10Mb. It takes about 3 days to
reach this size from 6 M at startup. This is under Sun OS 4.1.3U1.
- As another example, here is the configuration of ns.uu.net (from late
- 1994):
+As another example, here is the configuration of ns.uu.net (from late
+1994):
ns.uu.net only does nameservice. It is running a version of BIND
4.9.3 on a Sun Classic with 96 MB of RAM, 220 MB of swap (remember
@@ -384,22 +515,17 @@ A: It can use quite a bit ! The main thing that BIND needs is memory.
running Sun OS 4.1.3_U1.
Joseph Malcolm, of Alternet, states that named generally hovers at
- 5-10% of the CPU, except after a reload, when it eats it all. He
- also states that if you are interested in the network connectivity
- around the system (ns.uu.net is located off of Falls-Church4), a
- PostScript map is available for anonymous ftp from
+ 5-10% of the CPU, except after a reload, when it eats it all.
- ftp://ftp.uu.net/uunet-info/alternet.map.ps
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
--------------------------------
+Question 2.12. Other things to consider when planning your servers
Date: Mon Jan 2 14:24:51 EST 1995
-Subject: Q1.9 - Other things to consider when planning your servers
-
- When making the plans to set up your servers, you may want to also
- consider the following issues:
-
+
+When making the plans to set up your servers, you may want to also
+consider the following issues:
+
A) Server O/S limitations/capacities (which tend to be widely
divergent from vendor to vendor)
B) Client resolver behavior (even more widely divergent)
@@ -424,147 +550,109 @@ Subject: Q1.9 - Other things to consider when planning your servers
traffic among several machines strategically located, possibly larger ones,
and/or subdividing your domain itself. There are many options, tradeoffs,
and DNS architectural paradigms from which to choose.
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-------------------------------
+Question 2.13. Proper way to get NS and reverse IP records into DNS
Date: Mon Jan 2 13:03:53 EST 1995
-Subject: Q1.10 - Proper way to get NS and reverse IP records into DNS
-
-Q: Reverse domain registration is separate from forward domain registration.
- How do I get it updated ?
-
-A: Blocks of network addresses have been delegated by the InterNIC. Check
- if your network a.b.c.0 is in such a block by using nslookup:
+Reverse domain registration is separate from forward domain registration.
+Blocks of network addresses have been delegated by the InterNIC. Check if
+your network a.b.c.0 is in such a block by using nslookup:
nslookup -type=soa c.b.a.in-addr.arpa.
nslookup -type=soa b.a.in-addr.arpa.
nslookup -type=soa a.in-addr.arpa.
- One of the above should give you the information you are looking for
- (the others will return with an error something like `*** No start of
- authority (SOA) records available for ...')
- This will give you the email address of the person to whom you should
- address your change request.
-
- If none of these works, your network probably has not been delegated
- by the InterNIC and you need to contact them directly.
-
- CIDR has meant that the registration is delegated, but registration
- of in-addr.arpa has always been separate from forward zones - and
- for good reason - in that the forward and reverse zones may have
- different policies, contents etc, may be served by a different set
- of nameservers, and exist at different times (usually only at point
- of creation). There isn't a one-to-one mapping between the two, so
- merging the registration would probably cause more problems than
- people forgetting/not-knowing that they had to register in-addr.arpa
- zones separately. For example, there are organizations that have
- hundreds of networks and two or more domains, with a sprinkling of
- machines from each network in each of the domains.
+One of the above should give you the information you are looking for (the
+others will return with an error something like `*** No start of authority
+(SOA) records available for ...') This will give you the email address of
+the person to whom you should address your change request.
-
--------------------------------
-
-Date: Mon Jan 2 13:08:38 EST 1995
-Subject: Q1.11 - How to get my address assign from NIC ?
+If none of these works, your network probably has not been delegated by
+the InterNIC and you need to contact them directly.
-
-Q: Can anyone tell me how can I get the address from NIC? How many subnets
- will NIC give to me?
-
-A: You should probably ask your Internet provider to give you an address.
- These days, addresses are being distributed through the providers,
- so that they can assign adjacent blocks of addresses to sites that
- go through the same provider, to permit more efficient routing on
- the backbones.
-
- Unless you have thousands of hosts, you probably won't be able to get a
- class B these days. Instead, you can get a series of class C networks.
- Large requests will be queried, so be ready to provide a network plan if
- you ask for more than 16 class C networks.
-
- If you can't do this through your Internet provider, you can look for a
- subnet registration form on rs.internic.net. See the answer in this FAQ
- to the question "How to register a domain name" for a URL to these
- forms.
-
--------------------------------
+CIDR has meant that the registration is delegated, but registration of
+in-addr.arpa has always been separate from forward zones - and for good
+reason - in that the forward and reverse zones may have different
+policies, contents etc, may be served by a different set of nameservers,
+and exist at different times (usually only at point of creation). There
+isn't a one-to-one mapping between the two, so merging the registration
+would probably cause more problems than people forgetting/not-knowing that
+they had to register in-addr.arpa zones separately. For example, there
+are organizations that have hundreds of networks and two or more domains,
+with a sprinkling of machines from each network in each of the domains.
-Date: Mon Jan 2 13:12:01 EST 1995
-Subject: Q1.12 -Is there a block of private IP addresses I can use?
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+Question 2.14. How do I get my address assigned from the NIC ?
-Q: Is there a block of private IP addresses I can use?
-
-A: This answer may be found in the FAQ for the newsgroup comp.dcom.sys.cisco
- available for anonymous ftp from
+Date: Fri Dec 6 01:11:34 EST 1996
- ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/comp.dcom.sys.cisco
+You should probably ask your Internet provider to give you an address.
+These days, addresses are being distributed through the providers, so that
+they can assign adjacent blocks of addresses to sites that go through the
+same provider, to permit more efficient routing on the backbones.
- There is a block of private IP addresses that you can use. However
- whether you wish to do so is an issue of some debate.
-
- There are two RFCs which discuss this issue, and present opposing
- views:
-
-1597 Address Allocation for Private Internets. Y. Rekhter, B.
- Moskowitz, D. Karrenberg & G. de Groot. March 1994. (Format:
- TXT=17430 bytes)
-
-1627 Network 10 Considered Harmful (Some Practices Shouldn't be
- Codified). E. Lear, E. Fair, D. Crocker & T. Kessler. June 1994.
- (Format: TXT=18823 bytes)
-
- Neither one of these RFCs is anything more than a set of informational
- guidelines; they are *not* words to live by (remember that RFC stands
- for Request For Comments). If you're seriously considering using
- private IP addresses, please read them both.
-
- In any event, RFC 1597 documents the allocation of the following
- addresses for use by ``private internets'':
+Unless you have thousands of hosts, you probably won't be able to get a
+class B these days. Instead, you can get a series of class C networks.
+Large requests will be queried, so be ready to provide a network plan if
+you ask for more than 16 class C networks.
+
+If you can't do this through your Internet provider, you can look for a
+subnet registration form on rs.internic.net. See the answer in this FAQ
+to the question "How do I register a domain" for a URL to these forms.
+
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+Question 2.15. Is there a block of private IP addresses I can use?
+
+Date: Sun May 5 23:02:49 EDT 1996
+
+Yes there is. Please refer to RFC 1918:
+
+ 1918 Address Allocation for Private Internets. Y. Rekhter, B.
+ Moskowitz, D. Karrenberg, G. de Groot, & E. Lear. February 1996.
+ (Format: TXT=22270 bytes)
+RFC 1918 documents the allocation of the following addresses for use by
+``private internets'':
+
10.0.0.0 - 10.255.255.255
172.16.0.0 - 172.31.255.255
192.168.0.0 - 192.168.255.255
-
- Most importantly, it is vital that nothing using these addresses
- should ever connect to the global Internet, or have plans to do so.
- Please read the above RFCs before considering implementing such
- a policy.
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------
+Question 2.16. Does BIND cache negative answers (failed DNS lookups) ?
Date: Mon Jan 2 13:55:50 EST 1995
-Subject: Q1.13 - Cache failed lookups
-Q: Does BIND cache negative answers (failed DNS lookups) ?
+Yes, BIND 4.9.3 and more recent versions will cache negative answers.
-A: Yes, BIND 4.9.3 will cache negative answers.
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
--------------------------------
+Question 2.17. What does an NS record really do ?
-Date: Fri Feb 10 15:35:07 EST 1995
-Subject: Q1.14 - What does an NS record really do ?
+Date: Wed Sep 4 22:52:18 EDT 1996
-Q: What does a NS record really do ?
+The NS records in your zone data file pointing to the zone's name servers
+(as opposed to the servers of delegated subdomains) don't do much.
+They're essentially unused, though they are returned in the authority
+section of reply packets from your name servers.
-A: The NS records in your zone data file pointing to the zone's name
- servers (as opposed to the servers of delegated subdomains) don't do
- much. They're essentially unused, though they are returned in the
- authority section of reply packets from your name servers.
+However, the NS records in the zone file of the parent domain are used to
+find the right servers to query for the zone in question. These records
+are more important than the records in the zone itself.
--------------------------------
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-Date: Fri Feb 10 15:40:10 EST 1995
-Subject: Q1.15 - DNS ports
+Question 2.18. DNS ports
-Q: Does anyone out there have any information/experience on exactly which
- TCP/UDP ports DNS uses to send and receive queries ?
+Date: Fri Feb 10 15:40:10 EST 1995
-A: Use the following chart:
+The following table shows what TCP/UDP ports DNS uses to send and receive
+queries:
Prot Src Dst Use
udp 53 53 Queries between servers (eg, recursive queries)
@@ -579,40 +667,36 @@ A: Use the following chart:
Note: >1023 is for non-priv ports on Un*x clients. On other client
types, the limit may be more or less.
- Another point to keep in mind when designing filters for DNS is that a
- DNS server uses port 53 both as the source and destination for it's
- queries. So, a client queries an initial server from an unreserved
- port number to UDP port 53. If the server needs to query another
- server to get the required info, it sends a UDP query to that server
- with both source and destination ports set to 53. The response is then
- sent with the same src=53 dest=53 to the first server which then
- responds to the original client from port 53 to the original source
- port number.
-
- The point of all this is that putting in filters to only allow UDP
- between a high port and port 53 will not work correctly, you must also
- allow the port 53 to port 53 UDP to get through.
-
- Also, ALL versions of BIND use TCP for queries in some cases. The
- original query is tried using UDP. If the response is longer than
- the allocated buffer, the resolver will retry the query using a TCP
- connection. If you block access to TCP port 53 as suggested above,
- you may find that some things don't work.
-
- Newer version of BIND allow you to configure a list of IP addresses
- from which to allow zone transfers. This mechanism can be used to
- prevent people from outside downloading your entire namespace.
+Another point to keep in mind when designing filters for DNS is that a DNS
+server uses port 53 both as the source and destination for it's queries.
+So, a client queries an initial server from an unreserved port number to
+UDP port 53. If the server needs to query another server to get the
+required info, it sends a UDP query to that server with both source and
+destination ports set to 53. The response is then sent with the same
+src=53 dest=53 to the first server which then responds to the original
+client from port 53 to the original source port number.
+The point of all this is that putting in filters to only allow UDP between
+a high port and port 53 will not work correctly, you must also allow the
+port 53 to port 53 UDP to get through.
--------------------------------
+Also, ALL versions of BIND use TCP for queries in some cases. The
+original query is tried using UDP. If the response is longer than the
+allocated buffer, the resolver will retry the query using a TCP
+connection. If you block access to TCP port 53 as suggested above, you
+may find that some things don't work.
+Newer version of BIND allow you to configure a list of IP addresses from
+which to allow zone transfers. This mechanism can be used to prevent
+people from outside downloading your entire namespace.
-Date: Fri Apr 28 14:19:10 EDT 1995
-Subject: Q1.16 - Obtaining the latest cache file
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-Q: What is the cache file and where can I obtain the latest version ?
+Question 2.19. What is the cache file
-A: From the "Name Server Operations Guide"
+Date: Fri Dec 6 01:15:22 EST 1996
+
+From the "Name Server Operations Guide"
6.3. Cache Initialization
@@ -625,13 +709,27 @@ A: From the "Name Server Operations Guide"
higher authorities. The location of this file is
specified in the boot file. ...
- A copy of the comments in the file available from the InterNIC follow:
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+Question 2.20. Obtaining the latest cache file
+
+Date: Fri Dec 6 01:15:22 EST 1996
+
+If you have a version of dig running, you may obtain the information with
+the command
+
+ dig @a.root-servers.net. . ns
+
+A perl script to handle some possible problems when using this method
+from behind a firewall and that can also be used to periodically obtain
+the latest cache file was posted to comp.protocols.tcp-ip.domains during
+early October, 1996. It was posted with the subject "Keeping db.cache
+current". It is available at
+http://www.users.pfmc.net/~cdp/cptd-faq/current_db_cache.txt.
+
+The latest cache file may also be obtained from the InterNIC via ftp or
+gopher:
- ; This file holds the information on root name servers needed to
- ; initialize cache of Internet domain name servers
- ; (e.g. reference this file in the "cache . <file>"
- ; configuration file of BIND domain name servers).
- ;
; This file is made available by InterNIC registration services
; under anonymous FTP as
; file /domain/named.root
@@ -640,84 +738,142 @@ A: From the "Name Server Operations Guide"
; under menu InterNIC Registration Services (NSI)
; submenu InterNIC Registration Archives
; file named.root
- ;
- ; last update: Oct 5, 1994
- ; related version of root zone: 1994100500
- ;
- If you have a version of dig running, you may obtain the information with
- the command
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
- dig @ns.internic.net . ns
-
+Question 2.21. Selecting a nameserver/root cache
--------------------------------
+Date: Mon Aug 5 22:54:11 EDT 1996
+Exactly how is the a root server selected from the root cache? Does the
+resolver attempt to pick the closest host or is it random or is it via
+sortlist-type workings? If the root server selected is not available (for
+whatever reason), will the the query fail instead of attempting another
+root server in the list ?
-Date: Mon Jan 2 13:13:49 EST 1995
-Subject: Q2.1 - Utilities to administer DNS zone files
-
-Q: I am wondering if there are utilities available to ease the
- administration of the zone files in the DNS.
-
-A: There are a few. Two common ones are h2n and makezones. Both are perl
- scripts. h2n is used to convert host tables into zone data files. It
- is available for anonymous ftp from
+Every recursive BIND name server (that is, one which is willing to go out
+and find something for you if you ask it something it doesn't know) will
+remember the measured round trip time to each server it sends queries to.
+If it has a choice of several servers for some domain (like "." for
+example) it will use the one whose measured RTT is lowest.
- ftp://ftp.uu.net/published/oreilly/nutshell/dnsbind/dns.tar.Z.
-
- makezones works from a single file that looks like a forward zone file,
- with some additional syntax for special cases. It is included in the
- current BIND distribution. The newest version is always available for
- anonymous ftp from
+Since the measured RTT of all NS RRs starts at zero (0), every one gets
+tried one time. Once all have responded, all RTT's will be nonzero, and
+the "fastest server" will get all queries henceforth, until it slows down
+for some reason.
+
+To promote dispersion and good recordkeeping, BIND will penalize the RTT
+by a little bit each time a server is reused, and it will penalize the RTT
+a _lot_ if it ever has to retransmit a query. For a server to stay "#1",
+it has to keep on answering quickly and consistently.
+
+Note that this is something BIND does that the DNS Specification does not
+mention at all. So other servers, those not based on BIND, might behave
+very differently.
+
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+Question 2.22. InterNIC and domain names
+
+Date: Sun Jun 2 11:23:49 EDT 1996
+
+The current InterNIC policy on what to do if someone wants to use a domain
+name that is already in use may be found at
+
+rs.internic.net : /policy/internic/internic-domain-4.txt
+
+or
+
+http://rs.internic.net/domain-info/internic-domain-4.html.
+
+The following information was submitted by Carl Oppedahl
+<oppedahl@patents.com> :
+
+If the jealous party happens to have a trademark registration, it is quite
+likely that the domain name owner will lose the domain name, even if they
+aren't infringing the trademark. This presents a substantial risk of loss
+of a domain name on only 30 days' notice. Anyone who is the manager of an
+Internet-connected site should be aware of this risk and should plan for
+it.
+
+See "How do I protect myself from loss of my domain name?" at
+http://www.patents.com/weblaw.sht#domloss.
+
+For an example of an ISP's battle to keep its domain name, see
+http://www.patents.com/nsi.sht.
+
+A compendium of information on the subject may be found at
+http://www.law.georgetown.edu/lc/internic/domain1.html.
+
+===============================================================================
+
+Section 3. UTILITIES
+
+ Q3.1 Utilities to administer DNS zone files
+ Q3.2 DIG - Domain Internet Groper
+ Q3.3 DNS packet analyser
+ Q3.4 host
+ Q3.5 How can I use DNS information in my program?
+ Q3.6 A source of information relating to DNS
+
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
- ftp://ftp.cus.cam.ac.uk/pub/software/programs/DNS/makezones
-
- This package is mirrored at
+Question 3.1. Utilities to administer DNS zone files
- ftp://ftp.njit.edu/pub/dns/cus.cam.ac/makezones
+Date: Wed Sep 4 22:53:53 EDT 1996
- More information may be found using the DNS Resource Directory
+There are a few utilities available to ease the administration of zone
+files in the DNS.
- http://www.dns.net/dnsrd
+Two common ones are h2n and makezones. Both are perl scripts. h2n is
+used to convert host tables into zone data files. It is available for
+anonymous ftp from
+ftp.uu.net : /published/oreilly/nutshell/dnsbind/dns.tar.Z
--------------------------------
+makezones works from a single file that looks like a forward zone file,
+with some additional syntax for special cases. It is included in the
+current BIND distribution. The newest version is always available for
+anonymous ftp from
+
+ftp.cus.cam.ac.uk : /pub/software/programs/DNS/makezones
+
+More information may be found using the DNS Resources Directory
+
+http://www.dns.net/dnsrd/.
+
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+Question 3.2. DIG - Domain Internet Groper
Date: Thu Dec 1 11:09:11 EST 1994
-Subject: Q2.2 - DIG - Domain Internet Groper
-
-Q: Where can I find the latest version of DIG ?
-
-A: The latest and greatest, official, accept-no-substitutes version of DiG
- is the one that comes with BIND. Get the latest kit.
--------------------------------
+The latest and greatest, official, accept-no-substitutes version of the
+Domain Internet Groper (DiG) is the one that comes with BIND. Get the
+latest kit.
-Date: Mon May 15 12:57:42 EDT 1995
-Subject: Q2.3 -DNS packet analyser
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-Q: I'm looking for a Ethernet packet analyser of public domain or standard
- (like tcpdump, snoop, packetman) that is able to determine DNS data
- field protocol
-
-A: There is a free ethernet analyser called Ethload available for PC's
- running DOS. The latest filename is ETHLD104.ZIP. It understands lots
- of protocols including TCP/UDP. It'll look inside there and display
- DNS/BOOTP/ICMP packets etc. (Ed. note: something nice for someone to
- add to tcpdump ;^) ). Depending on the ethernet controller it's given
- it'll perform slightly differently. It handles NDIS/Novell/Packet
- drivers. It works best with Novell's promiscuous mode drivers.
- A A SimTel mirror site should have the program available for anonymous
- ftp. As an example,
+Question 3.3. DNS packet analyser
- ftp://oak.oakland.edu/SimTel/msdos/lan/ethld104.zip
+Date: Wed Sep 4 23:43:57 EDT 1996
+There is a free ethernet analyser called Ethload available for PC's
+running DOS. The latest filename is ETHLD104.ZIP. It understands lots of
+protocols including TCP/UDP. It'll look inside there and display
+DNS/BOOTP/ICMP packets etc. (Ed. note: something nice for someone to add
+to tcpdump ;^) ). Depending on the ethernet controller it's given it'll
+perform slightly differently. It handles NDIS/Novell/Packet drivers. It
+works best with Novell's promiscuous mode drivers. A SimTel mirror site
+should have the program available for anonymous ftp. One is
--------------------------------
+ftp.coast.net : /SimTel/msdos/lan/ethld104.zip
+
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+Question 3.4. host
Date: Sun Dec 4 21:15:38 EST 1994
-Subject: Q2.4 - host
A section from the host man page:
@@ -738,289 +894,369 @@ A section from the host man page:
numeric Internet addresses.
'host' is compatible with both BIND 4.9 and BIND 4.8
-
+
'host' may be found in contrib/host in the BIND distribution. The latest
version always available for anonymous ftp from
- ftp://ftp.nikhef.nl/pub/network/host.tar.Z
+ftp.nikhef.nl : /pub/network/host.tar.Z
It may also be found for anonymous ftp from
- ftp://ftp.uu.net/networking/ip/dns/host.tar.Z
-
--------------------------------
+ftp.uu.net : /networking/ip/dns/host.tar.Z
+
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+Question 3.5. How can I use DNS information in my program?
Date: Fri Feb 10 15:25:11 EST 1995
-Subject: Q2.5 - Programming with DNS
-Q: How can I use DNS information in my program?
-
-A: It depends on precisely what you want to do:
-
- a) Consider whether you need to write a program at all. It may well
- be easier to write a shell program (e.g. using awk or perl) to parse
- the output of dig, host or nslookup.
-
- b) If all you need is names and addresses, there will probably be
- system routines 'gethostbyname' and 'gethostbyaddr' to provide this
- information.
-
- c) If you need more details, then there are system routines (res_query
- and res_search) to assist with making and sending DNS queries.
- However, these do not include a routine to parse the resulting answer
- (although routines to assist in this task are provided). There is a
- separate library available that will take a DNS response and unpick
- it into its constituent parts, returning a C structure that can be
- used by the program. The source for this library is available for
- anonymous ftp from
+It depends on precisely what you want to do:
- ftp://hpux.csc.liv.ac.uk/hpux/Networking/Admin/resparse-*
+* Consider whether you need to write a program at all. It may well be
+ easier to write a shell program (e.g. using awk or perl) to parse the
+ output of dig, host or nslookup.
+* If all you need is names and addresses, there will probably be system
+ routines 'gethostbyname' and 'gethostbyaddr' to provide this
+ information.
+* If you need more details, then there are system routines (res_query and
+ res_search) to assist with making and sending DNS queries. However,
+ these do not include a routine to parse the resulting answer (although
+ routines to assist in this task are provided). There is a separate
+ library available that will take a DNS response and unpick it into its
+ constituent parts, returning a C structure that can be used by the
+ program. The source for this library is available for anonymous ftp at
+ hpux.csc.liv.ac.uk : /hpux/Networking/Admin/resparse-1.2
--------------------------------
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+Question 3.6. A source of information relating to DNS
-Date: Wed May 3 12:46:50 EDT 1995
-Subject: Q2.6 - A source of information relating to DNS
+Date: Tue Nov 5 23:42:21 EST 1996
-Q: Where can I find utilities and tools to help me manage my zone files ?
+You may find utilities and tools to help you manage your zone files
+(including WWW front-ends) in the "tools" section of the DNS resources
+directory:
-A: There are several tools available. Please refer to the "tools" section
- of the DNS resources directory:
+http://www.dns.net/dnsrd/tools.html
- http://www.dns.net/dnsrd/tools.html
+There are also a number of IP management tools available. Data
+Communications had an article on the subject in Sept/Oct of 1996. The
+tools mentioned in the article and a few others may be found at the
+following sites:
+* IP Address management, http://www.accugraph.com
+* IP-Track, http://www.on.com
+* NetID, http://www.isotro.com
+* QIP, http://www.quadritek.com
+* UName-It, http://www.esm.com
--------------------------------
+===============================================================================
+Section 4. DEFINITIONS
-Date: Fri May 12 14:33:40 EDT 1995
-Subject: Q3.1 - TCP/IP Host Naming Conventions
+ Q4.1 TCP/IP Host Naming Conventions
+ Q4.2 What are slaves and forwarders ?
+ Q4.3 When is a server authoritative?
+ Q4.4 My server does not consider itself authoritative !
+ Q4.5 NS records don't configure servers as authoritative ?
+ Q4.6 underscore in host-/domainnames
+ Q4.7 What is lame delegation ?
+ Q4.8 How can I see if the server is "lame" ?
+ Q4.9 What does opt-class field in a zone file do?
+ Q4.10 Top level domains
+ Q4.11 Classes of networks
+ Q4.12 What is CIDR ?
+ Q4.13 What is the rule for glue ?
-Q: Is a guide available relating to naming systems ?
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-A: One guide/resource is RFC 1178, "Choosing a Name for Your Computer",
- which is available via anonymous FTP from
+Question 4.1. TCP/IP Host Naming Conventions
- ftp://ftp.internic.netrfc/rfc1178.txt
-
- RFCs (Request For Comments) are specifications and guidelines for how
- many aspects of TCP/IP and the Internet (should) work. Most RFCs are
- fairly technical documents, and some have semantics that are hotly
- contested in the newsgroups. But a few, like RFC 1178, are actually
- good to read for someone who's just starting along a TCP/IP path.
+Date: Mon Aug 5 22:49:46 EDT 1996
-
--------------------------------
+One guide that may be used when naming hosts is RFC 1178, "Choosing a Name
+for Your Computer", which is available via anonymous FTP from
+
+ftp.internic.net : /rfc/rfc1178.txt
+
+RFCs (Request For Comments) are specifications and guidelines for how many
+aspects of TCP/IP and the Internet (should) work. Most RFCs are fairly
+technical documents, and some have semantics that are hotly contested in
+the newsgroups. But a few, like RFC 1178, are actually good to read for
+someone who's just starting along a TCP/IP path.
+
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+Question 4.2. What are slaves and forwarders ?
Date: Thu Dec 1 10:32:43 EST 1994
-Subject: Q3.2 - What are slaves and forwarders ?
-
-Q: What are slaves and forwarders ?
-
-A: "forwarders" is a list of NS records that are _prepended_ to a list
- of NS records to query if the data is not available locally. This
- allows a rich cache of records to be built up at a centralized
- location. This is good for sites that have sporadic or very slow
- connections to the Internet. (demand dial-up, for example) It's
- also just a good idea for very large distributed sites to increase
- the chance that you don't have to go off to the Internet to get an
- IP address. (sometimes for addresses across the street!)
-
- "slave" modifies this to say to replace the list of NS records
- with the forwarders entry, instead of prepending to it. This is
- for firewalled environments, where the nameserver can't directly
- get out to the Internet at all.
- "slave" is meaningless (and invalid, in late-model BINDs) without
- "forwarders". "forwarders" is an entry in named.boot, and therefore
- applies only to the nameserver (not to resolvers).
+"forwarders" is a list of NS records that are _prepended_ to a list of NS
+records to query if the data is not available locally. This allows a rich
+cache of records to be built up at a centralized location. This is good
+for sites that have sporadic or very slow connections to the Internet.
+(demand dial-up, for example) It's also just a good idea for very large
+distributed sites to increase the chance that you don't have to go off to
+the Internet to get an IP address. (sometimes for addresses across the
+street!)
+
+"slave" modifies this to say to replace the list of NS records with the
+forwarders entry, instead of prepending to it. This is for firewalled
+environments, where the nameserver can't directly get out to the Internet
+at all.
+
+"slave" is meaningless (and invalid, in late-model BINDs) without
+"forwarders". "forwarders" is an entry in named.boot, and therefore
+applies only to the nameserver (not to resolvers).
+
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------
+Question 4.3. When is a server authoritative?
Date: Mon Jan 2 13:15:13 EST 1995
-Subject: Q3.3 - When is a server authoritative?
-
-
-Q: What criteria does a server use to determine if it is authoritative
- for a domain?
-
-A: In the case of BIND:
- 1) The server contains current data in files for the zone in
- question (Data must be current for secondaries, as defined
- in the SOA)
- 2) The server is told that it is authoritative for the zone, by
- a 'primary' or 'secondary' keyword in /etc/named.boot.
- 3) The server does an error-free load of the zone.
-
-Q: I have set up a DNS where there is an SOA record for
- the domain, but the server still does not consider itself
- authoritative. (I used nslookup and set server=the correct machine.)
- It seems to me that something is not matching up somewhere. I suspect
- that this is because the service provider has not given us control
- over the IP numbers in our own domain, and so while the machine listed
- has an A record for an address, there is no corresponding PTR record.
-
-A: That's possible too, but is unrelated to the first question.
- You need to be delegated a zone before outside people will start
- talking to your server. However, a server can still be authoritative
- for a zone even though it hasn't been delegated authority (it's just
- that only the people who use that as their server will see the data).
-
- A server may consider itself non-authoritative even though it's a
- primary if there is a syntax error in the zone (see point 3 above).
-Q: I always believe that it was the NS record that defined authoritative
- servers.
+In the case of BIND:
+
+* The server contains current data in files for the zone in question (Data
+ must be current for secondaries, as defined in the SOA)
+* The server is told that it is authoritative for the zone, by a 'primary'
+ or 'secondary' keyword in /etc/named.boot.
+* The server does an error-free load of the zone.
-A: Nope, delegation is a separate issue from authoritativeness.
- You can still be authoritative, but not delegated. (you can also be
- delegated, but not authoritative -- that's a "lame delegation")
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-Q: We have had problems in the past from servers that were
- authoritative (primary or secondary) but no NS, so other thought they
- were not. Some resolvers get very confused when they get non-
- authoritative data from the primary server.
+Question 4.4. My server does not consider itself authoritative !
+
+Date: Mon Jan 2 13:15:13 EST 1995
-A: Yes, that's a lame delegation. That's not caused by what you said,
- but rather by a server which is _not_ authoritative for a zone, yet
- someone else (the parent) is saying that a server is authoritative
- (via the NS records).
+The question was:
+
+ What if I have set up a DNS where there is an SOA record for
+ the domain, but the server still does not consider itself
+ authoritative. (when using nslookup and set server=the correct machine.)
+ It seems that something is not matching up somewhere. I suspect
+ that this is because the service provider has not given us control
+ over the IP numbers in our own domain, and so while the machine listed
+ has an A record for an address, there is no corresponding PTR record.
+With the answer:
+
+ That's possible too, but is unrelated to the first question.
+ You need to be delegated a zone before outside people will start
+ talking to your server. However, a server can still be authoritative
+ for a zone even though it hasn't been delegated authority (it's just
+ that only the people who use that as their server will see the data).
+
+ A server may consider itself non-authoritative even though it's a
+ primary if there is a syntax error in the zone (see the list in the
+ previous question).
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
- The set of NS records in the parent zone must be a subset of the
- authoritative servers to avoid lame delegations.
+Question 4.5. NS records don't configure servers as authoritative ?
+Date: Fri Dec 6 16:13:34 EST 1996
--------------------------------
+Nope, delegation is a separate issue from authoritativeness. You can
+still be authoritative, but not delegated. (you can also be delegated,
+but not authoritative -- that's a "lame delegation")
-Date: Fri Apr 28 13:26:37 EDT 1995
-Subject: Q3.4 - underscore in host-/domainnames
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+Question 4.6. underscore in host-/domainnames
-Q: I had a quick look on whether underscores are allowed in host- or
- domainnames.
+Date: Mon Aug 5 22:39:02 EDT 1996
+The question is "Are underscores are allowed in host- or domainnames" ?
RFC 1033 allows them.
RFC 1035 doesn't.
RFC 1123 doesn't.
dnswalk complains about them.
- Which RFC is the final authority these days?
-A: Actually RFC 1035 deals with names of machines or names of
- mail domains. i.e "_" is not permitted in a hostname or on the
- RHS of the "@" in local@domain.
+Which RFC is the final authority these days?
+
+Actually RFC 1035 deals with names of machines or names of mail domains.
+i.e "_" is not permitted in a hostname or on the RHS of the "@" in
+local@domain.
- Underscore is permitted where ever the domain is NOT one of
- these types of addresses.
+Underscore is permitted where ever the domain is NOT one of these types
+of addresses.
- In general the DNS mostly contains hostnames and mail domainnames.
- This will change as new resource record types for authenticating DNS
- queries start to appear.
+In general the DNS mostly contains hostnames and mail domainnames. This
+will change as new resource record types for authenticating DNS queries
+start to appear.
- The latest version of 'host' checks for illegal characters in A/MX
- record names and the NS/MX target names.
+The latest version of 'host' checks for illegal characters in A/MX record
+names and the NS/MX target names.
- After saying all of that, remember that RFC 1123 is a Required Internet
- Standard (per RFC 1720), and RFC 1033 isn't. Even 1035 isn't a required
- standard. Therefore, RFC 1123 wins, no contest.
+After saying all of that, remember that RFC 1123 is a Required Internet
+Standard (per RFC 1720), and RFC 1033 isn't. Even RFC 1035 isn't a
+required standard. Therefore, RFC 1123 wins, no contest.
+From RFC 1123, Section 2.1
--------------------------------
+ 2.1 Host Names and Numbers
-Date: Fri Dec 2 15:03:56 EST 1994
-Subject: Q3.5 - Lame delegation
+ The syntax of a legal Internet host name was specified in RFC-952
+ [DNS:4]. One aspect of host name syntax is hereby changed: the
+ restriction on the first character is relaxed to allow either a
+ letter or a digit. Host software MUST support this more liberal
+ syntax.
-Q: What is lame delegation ?
+ And described by Dave Barr in RFC1912:
-A: Two things are required for a lame delegation:
- 1) A nameserver X is delegated as authoritative for a zone.
- 2) Nameserver X is not performing nameservice for that zone.
+ Allowable characters in a label for a host name are only ASCII
+ letters, digits, and the `-' character. Labels may not be all
+ numbers, but may have a leading digit (e.g., 3com.com). Labels must
+ end and begin only with a letter or digit. See [RFC 1035] and [RFC
+ 1123]. (Labels were initially restricted in [RFC 1035] to start with
+ a letter, and some older hosts still reportedly have problems with
+ the relaxation in [RFC 1123].) Note there are some Internet
+ hostnames which violate this rule (411.org, 1776.com).
- Try to think of a lame delegation as a long-term condition, brought
- about by a misconfiguration somewhere. Bryan Beecher's 1992 LISA
- paper on lame delegations is good to read on this. The problem
- really lies in misconfigured nameservers, not "lameness" brought
- about by transient outages. The latter is common on the Internet
- and hard to avoid, while the former is correctable.
+Finally, one more piece of information (From Paul Vixie):
- In order to be performing nameservice for a zone, it must have
- (presumed correct) data for that zone, and it must be answering
- authoritatively to resolver queries for that zone. (The AA bit is
- set in the flags section)
+ RFC 1034 says only that domain names have characters in them, though it
+ says so with enough fancy and indirection that it's hard to tell exactly.
- The "classic" lame delegation case is when nameserver X is delegated
- as authoritative for domain Y, yet when you ask Y about X, it
- returns non-authoritative data.
+ Generally, for second level domains (i.e., something you would get from
+ InterNIC or from the US Domain Registrar and probably other ISO 3166
+ country code TLDs), RFC 952 is thought to apply. RFC 952 was about host
+ names rather than domain names, but the rules seemed good enough.
- Here's an example that shows what happens most often (using dig,
- dnswalk, and doc to find).
+ <domainname> ::= <hname>
- Let's say the domain bogus.com gets registered at the NIC and they
- have listed 2 primary name servers, both from their *upstream*
- provider:
+ <hname> ::= <name>*["."<name>]
+ <name> ::= <let>[*[<let-or-digit-or-hyphen>]<let-or-digit>]
+There has been a recent update on this subject which may be found in
+
+ftp.internic.net : /internet-drafts/draft-andrews-dns-hostnames-03.txt.
+
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+Question 4.7. What is lame delegation ?
+
+Date: Mon Aug 5 22:45:02 EDT 1996
+
+Two things are required for a lame delegation:
+
+* A nameserver X is delegated as authoritative for a zone.
+* Nameserver X is not performing nameservice for that zone.
+
+Try to think of a lame delegation as a long-term condition, brought about
+by a misconfiguration somewhere. Bryan Beecher's 1992 LISA paper on lame
+delegations is good to read on this. The problem really lies in
+misconfigured nameservers, not "lameness" brought about by transient
+outages. The latter is common on the Internet and hard to avoid, while
+the former is correctable.
+
+In order to be performing nameservice for a zone, it must have (presumed
+correct) data for that zone, and it must be answering authoritatively to
+resolver queries for that zone. (The AA bit is set in the flags section)
+
+The "classic" lame delegation case is when nameserver X is delegated as
+authoritative for domain Y, yet when you ask Y about X, it returns
+non-authoritative data.
+
+Here's an example that shows what happens most often (using dig, dnswalk,
+and doc to find).
+
+Let's say the domain bogus.com gets registered at the NIC and they have
+listed 2 primary name servers, both from their *upstream* provider:
+
bogus.com IN NS ns.bogus.com
bogus.com IN NS upstream.com
bogus.com IN NS upstream1.com
- So the root servers have this info. But when the admins at
- bogus.com actually set up their zone files they put something like:
-
+So the root servers have this info. But when the admins at bogus.com
+actually set up their zone files they put something like:
+
bogus.com IN NS upstream.com
bogus.com IN NS upstream1.com
- So your name server may have the nameserver info cached (which it
- may have gotten from the root). The root says "go ask ns.bogus.com"
- since they are authoritative
+So your name server may have the nameserver info cached (which it may have
+gotten from the root). The root says "go ask ns.bogus.com" since they are
+authoritative
- This is usually from stuff being registered at the NIC (either
- nic.ddn.mil or rs.internic.net), and then updated later, but the
- folks who make the updates later never let the folks at the NIC know
- about it.
+This is usually from stuff being registered at the NIC (either nic.ddn.mil
+or rs.internic.net), and then updated later, but the folks who make the
+updates later never let the folks at the NIC know about it.
-Q: How can I see if the server is "lame" ?
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-A: Go to the authoritative servers one level up, and ask them who
- they think is authoritative, and then go ask each one of those
- delegees if they think that they themselves are authoritative. If any
- responds "no", then you know who the lame delegation is, and who is
- delegating lamely to them. You can then send off a message to the
- administrators of the level above.
+Question 4.8. How can I see if the server is "lame" ?
- The 'lamers' script from Byran Beecher really takes care of all this
- for you. It parses the lame delegation notices from BIND's syslog
- and summarizes them for you. It may be found in the contrib section
- of the latest BIND distribution. The latest version is available
- for anonymous ftp from
+Date: Mon Aug 5 22:45:02 EDT 1996
- ftp://terminator.cc.umich.edu/dns/lame-delegations/
+Go to the authoritative servers one level up, and ask them who they think
+is authoritative, and then go ask each one of those delegees if they think
+that they themselves are authoritative. If any responds "no", then you
+know who the lame delegation is, and who is delegating lamely to them.
+You can then send off a message to the administrators of the level above.
- If you want to actively check for lame delegations, you can use 'doc'
- and 'dnswalk'. You can check things manually with 'dig'.
+The 'lamers' script from Byran Beecher really takes care of all this for
+you. It parses the lame delegation notices from BIND's syslog and
+summarizes them for you. It may be found in the contrib section of the
+latest BIND distribution. The latest version is available for anonymous
+ftp from
--------------------------------
+terminator.cc.umich.edu : /dns/lame-delegations/
-Date: Thu Dec 1 11:10:39 EST 1994
-Subject: Q3.6 - What does opt-class field do?
+ If you want to actively check for lame delegations, you can use 'doc'
+and 'dnswalk'. You can check things manually with 'dig'.
+
+The InterNIC recently announced a new lame delegation that will be in
+effect on 01 October, 1996. Here is a summary:
+
+* After receipt/processing of a name registration template, and at random
+ intervals thereafter, the InterNIC will perform a DNS query via UDP
+ Port 53 on domain names for an SOA response for the name being
+ registered.
+* If the query of the domain name returns a non-authoritative response
+ from all the listed name servers, the query will be repeated four times
+ over the next 30 days at random intervals approximately 7 days apart,
+ with notification to all listed whois and nameserver contacts of the
+ possible pending deletion. If at least one server answers correctly,
+ but one or more are lame, FYI notifications will be sent to all contacts
+ and checking will be discontinued. Additionally, e-mail notices will be
+ provided to the contact for the name servers holding the delegation to
+ alert them to the "lame" condition. Notifications will state explicitly
+ the consequences of not correcting the "lame" condition and will be
+ assigned a descriptive subject as follows:
+
+ Subject: Lame Delegation Notice: DOMAIN_NAME
+
+ The notification will include a timestamp for when the query was
+ performed.
+* If, following 30 days, the name servers still provide no SOA response,
+ the name will be placed in a "hold" status and the DNS information will
+ no longer be propagated. The administrative contact will be notified by
+ postal mail and all whois contacts will be notified by e-mail, with
+ instructions for taking corrective action.
+* Following 60 days in a "hold" status, the name will be deleted and made
+ available for reregistration. Notification of the final deletion will
+ be sent to the name server and domain name contacts listed in the NIC
+ database.
+
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+Question 4.9. What does opt-class field in a zone file do?
-Q: Just something I was wondering about: What does the opt-class
- field in an name database do (the one that always says IN)?
- What would happen if I put something else there instead?
+Date: Thu Dec 1 11:10:39 EST 1994
-A: This field is the address class. From the BOG -
+This field is the address class. From the BOG -
...is the address class; currently, only one class
is supported: IN for internet addresses and other
internet information. Limited support is included for
the HS class, which is for MIT/Athena ``Hesiod''
information.
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------
-
-Date: Fri Feb 10 14:49:54 EST 1995
-Subject: Q3.7 - Top level domains
+Question 4.10. Top level domains
+Date: Fri Dec 6 15:13:35 EST 1996
A section from RFC 1591:
@@ -1033,12 +1269,35 @@ A section from RFC 1591:
letter country codes from ISO-3166. It is extremely unlikely that
any other TLDs will be created.
-[ Ed note: the ISO-3166 country codes may be found for anonymous ftp from:
+-----
+
+[ Ed note: the ISO-3166 country codes may be found for anonymous ftp
+from:
+
+* ftp.isi.edu : /in-notes/iana/assignments/country-codes
+* ftp.ripe.net : /iso3166-codes
- ftp://ftp.isi.edu/in-notes/iana/assignments/country-codes
- ftp://ftp.ripe.net/iso3166-codes
]
+[ Ed note: Since the Internic started charging for registration services,
+(and for other reasons) there are a number of groups that want to offer
+an alternative to registering a domain under a "standard" TLD. More
+information on some of these options may be found at:
+
+* http://www.alternic.net/
+* http://www.eu.org/
+* http://www.ml.org/mljoin.html
+
+You may participate in one of the discussions on iTLD proposals at
+
+* To sign up: http://www.newdom.com/lists
+* Old postings: http://www.newdom.com/archive
+
+]
+
+-----
+
+ ...
Under each TLD may be created a hierarchy of names. Generally, under
the generic TLDs the structure is very flat. That is, many
organizations are registered directly under the TLD, and any further
@@ -1208,43 +1467,44 @@ A section from RFC 1480:
state-wide organizations, clubs, or domain parks. For example:
<org-name>.GEN.<state-code>.US.
- The application form for the US domain may be found for anonymous ftp
- from:
+The application form for the US domain may be found:
- ftp://internic.net/templates/us-domain-template.txt
+* for anonymous ftp from internic.net : /templates/us-domain-template.txt
+* http://www.isi.edu/us-domain/
- The application form for the EDU, COM, NET, ORG, and GOV domains may be
- found for anonymous ftp from:
+The application form for the EDU, COM, NET, ORG, and GOV domains may be
+found for anonymous ftp from:
- ftp://internic.net/templates/domain-template.txt
+internic.net : /templates/domain-template.txt
-
--------------------------------
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-Date: Sun Nov 27 23:32:41 EST 1994
-Subject: Q3.8 - Classes of networks
+Question 4.11. Classes of networks
-Q: I am just kind of curious to what exactly the differences in classes
- of networks are (class A, B, C).
-
-A: An Internet Protocol (IP) address is 32 bit in length, divided into
- two or three parts (the network address, the subnet address (if present),
- and the host address. The subnet addresses are only present if the
- network has been divided into subnetworks. The length of the network,
- subnet, and host field are all variable.
-
- There are five different network classes. The leftmost bits indicate
- the class of the network.
-
- # bits in # bits in
- network host
-Class field field Internet Protocol address in binary Ranges
+Date: Wed Sep 4 22:59:27 EDT 1996
+
+The usage of 'classes of networks' (class A, B, C) are historical and have
+been replaced by CIDR blocks on the Internet. That being said...
+
+An Internet Protocol (IP) address is 32 bit in length, divided into two
+or three parts (the network address, the subnet address (if present), and
+the host address. The subnet addresses are only present if the network
+has been divided into subnetworks. The length of the network, subnet, and
+host field are all variable.
+
+There are five different network classes. The leftmost bits indicate the
+class of the network.
+
+ # of # of
+ bits in bits in
+ network host
+Class field field Internet Protocol address in binary Ranges
============================================================================
- A 7 24 0NNNNNNN.HHHHHHHH.HHHHHHHH.HHHHHHHH 1-127.x.x.x
- B 14 16 10NNNNNN.NNNNNNNN.HHHHHHHH.HHHHHHHH 128-191.x.x.x
- C 22 8 110NNNNN.NNNNNNNN.NNNNNNNN.HHHHHHHH 192-223.x.x.x
- D NOTE 1 1110xxxx.xxxxxxxx.xxxxxxxx.xxxxxxxx 224-239.x.x.x
- E NOTE 2 11110xxx.xxxxxxxx.xxxxxxxx.xxxxxxxx 240-247.x.x.x
+ A 7 24 0NNNNNNN.HHHHHHHH.HHHHHHHH.HHHHHHHH 1-127.x.x.x
+ B 14 16 10NNNNNN.NNNNNNNN.HHHHHHHH.HHHHHHHH 128-191.x.x.x
+ C 22 8 110NNNNN.NNNNNNNN.NNNNNNNN.HHHHHHHH 192-223.x.x.x
+ D NOTE 1 1110xxxx.xxxxxxxx.xxxxxxxx.xxxxxxxx 224-239.x.x.x
+ E NOTE 2 11110xxx.xxxxxxxx.xxxxxxxx.xxxxxxxx 240-247.x.x.x
where N represents part of the network address and H represents part of
the host address. When the subnet address is defined, the needed bits
@@ -1254,77 +1514,76 @@ Class field field Internet Protocol address in binary Ranges
NOTE 2: Reserved for future use
127.0.0.1 is reserved for local loopback.
-
- Under the current arrangements, many class A IP numbers will not be
- assigned whereas class C usage will be at a premium.
-
--------------------------------
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-Date: Fri Apr 28 13:31:24 EDT 1995
-Subject: Q3.9 - What is CIDR ?
+Question 4.12. What is CIDR ?
-Q: What is CIDR ?
+Date: Tue Nov 5 23:47:29 EST 1996
-A: CIDR is "Classless Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR). From RFC1517:
+CIDR is "Classless Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR). From RFC 1517:
- ...Classless Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR) attempts to deal with
+ ...Classless Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR) attempts to deal with
these problems by defining a mechanism to slow the growth of
routing tables and reduce the need to allocate new IP network
numbers.
- Much more information may be obtained in RFCs 1467, 1517, 1518, 1520;
- with primary reference 1519
+Much more information may be obtained in RFCs 1467, 1517, 1518, 1520;
+with primary reference 1519.
+
+Also please see the CIDR FAQ at
+* http://www.ibm.net.il/~hank/cidr.html
+* http://www.rain.net/faqs/cidr.faq.html
+* http://www.lab.unisource.ch/services/internet/direct/cidr.html
--------------------------------
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
+Question 4.13. What is the rule for glue ?
Date: Fri Apr 28 13:31:24 EDT 1995
-Subject: Q3.10 - What is the rule for glue ?
-Q: What is the rule for glue ?
+A glue record is an A record for a name that appears on the right-hand
+side of a NS record. So, if you have this:
-A: A glue record is an A record for a name that appears on the right-hand
- side of a NS record. So, if you have this:
sub.foobar.com. IN NS dns.sub.foobar.com.
dns.sub.foobar.com. IN A 1.2.3.4
- then the second record is a glue record (for the NS record above it).
-
- You need glue records when -- and only when -- you are delegating
- authority to a nameserver that "lives" in the domain you are delegating
- *and* you aren't a secondary server for that domain.
-
- In other words, in the example above, you need to add an A record
- for dns.sub.foobar.com since it "lives" in the domain it serves.
- This boot strapping information is necessary: How are you supposed
- to find out the IP address of the nameserver for domain FOO if the
- nameserver for FOO "lives" in FOO?
-
- If you have this NS record:
-
+then the second record is a glue record (for the NS record above it).
+
+You need glue records when -- and only when -- you are delegating
+authority to a nameserver that "lives" in the domain you are delegating
+*and* you aren't a secondary server for that domain.
+
+In other words, in the example above, you need to add an A record for
+dns.sub.foobar.com since it "lives" in the domain it serves. This boot
+strapping information is necessary: How are you supposed to find out the
+IP address of the nameserver for domain FOO if the nameserver for FOO
+"lives" in FOO?
+
+If you have this NS record:
+
sub.foobar.com. IN NS dns.xyz123.com.
- you do NOT need a glue record, and, in fact, adding one is a very
- bad idea. If you add one, and then the folks at xyz123.com change
- the address, then you will be passing out incorrect data.
-
- Also, unless you actually have a machine called something.IN-ADDR.ARPA,
- you will never have any glue records present in any of your "reverse"
- files.
+you do NOT need a glue record, and, in fact, adding one is a very bad
+idea. If you add one, and then the folks at xyz123.com change the
+address, then you will be passing out incorrect data.
+
+Also, unless you actually have a machine called something.IN-ADDR.ARPA,
+you will never have any glue records present in any of your "reverse"
+files.
- There is also a sort of implicit glue record that can be useful (or
- confusing :^) ). If the parent server (abc.foobar.com domain in example
- above) is a secondary server for the child, then the A record will be
- fetched from the child server when the zone transfer is done. The glue
- is still there but it's a little different, it's in the ip address in
- the named.boot line instead of explicitly in the data. In this case
- you can leave out the explicit glue A record and leave the manually
- configured "glue" in just the one place in the named.boot file.
+There is also a sort of implicit glue record that can be useful (or
+confusing :^) ). If the parent server (abc.foobar.com domain in example
+above) is a secondary server for the child, then the A record will be
+fetched from the child server when the zone transfer is done. The glue is
+still there but it's a little different, it's in the ip address in the
+named.boot line instead of explicitly in the data. In this case you can
+leave out the explicit glue A record and leave the manually configured
+"glue" in just the one place in the named.boot file.
- RFC 1537 says it quite nicely:
+RFC 1537 says it quite nicely:
2. Glue records
@@ -1337,3 +1596,7 @@ A: A glue record is an A record for a name that appears on the right-hand
Old BIND versions ("native" 4.8.3 and older versions) showed the
problem that wrong glue records could enter secondary servers in
a zone transfer.
+
+
+The remainder of the FAQ is in the next part (Part 2 of 2).
+
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