Re: Should a nameserver know about itself?

"Cricket Liu" <Cricket@verisign.com> Wed, 09 May 2001 23:54 UTC

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From: Cricket Liu <Cricket@verisign.com>
To: Shane Kerr <shane@ripe.net>, Robert Elz <kre@munnari.OZ.AU>
Cc: dnsop@cafax.se
References: <Pine.BSI.4.05L.10105100101550.509-100000@kantoor.ripe.net>
Subject: Re: Should a nameserver know about itself?
Date: Wed, 09 May 2001 17:29:41 -0600
Organization: VeriSign Global Registry Services
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> > Any domain can have any RR in it.   Any time you're tempted to
> > generalise based upon domain name, you're almost invariably
> > going to be wrong.
> 
> Okay, I'll bite.  What does it mean to have a PTR record in anything
> other than the in-addr.arpa tree?  While in some ways all domains are
> equal, can't we at least say that some domains are more equal than
> others?  :P

See RFC 2317, section 5.2.  It suggests that, since you're already
adding CNAME RRs to an in-addr.arpa zone, e.g.,

1.0.168.192.in-addr.arpa.    IN    CNAME    <something>

why not make that <something> a domain name in a zone the
delegate already owns, e.g.,

1.0.168.192.in-addr.arpa.    IN    CNAME    1.0.customer.example.

Then the customer adds

1.0.customer.example.    IN    PTR    foo.customer.example.

to his zone data file.  Ergo, a PTR RR in what's traditionally
considered a forward-mapping zone.

cricket