Re: [DNSOP] [Ext] Lameness terminology

[Matthew Pounsett <[e-mail]>]

On 4 May 2018 at 05:59, Shane Kerr <[e-mail]> wrote:

>
>
> Within a given NS RRset for a zone, we have a few failure modes:
>
> A. One or more NS do not resolve
> B. NS RR points to a CNAME (technically disallowed, right?)
> C. NS RR does not point to any A or AAAA that resolve
> D. An A or AAAA RR is for one or more addresses that are not
>    authoritative
>
> Case C might not strictly be lame, if for example it points to a .ONION
> address or similar.
>
> Case D might be usefully split into addresses that reply and those that
> timeout.
>

That seems complete to me.


> I think that there may be something useful in creating a term when a
> delegation only points to lame servers, thus cannot be resolved at all.
> Perhaps "broken delegation"? 😉
>

The way this has always worked in my head is that a zone can be delegated
to one or more lame servers.  If the zone is delegated entirely to lame
servers, then the delegation is lame.

But I take your point that perhaps that is too much overloading of the term
'lame'.




>
>
> There are also a few related issues coming from mismatches at parent &
> child.
>
> 1. "Lame hint" might describe an NS that is above the zone cut, and
>    points to one or more lame servers
>

The NS set above the zone cut comprises the delegation, doesn't it?  That's
not just a hint.


> 2. "Authoritatively lame" might describe an NS that is below the zone
>    cut
> 3. "Totally lame, man" might describe a lame NS that is in both
>
> We can also have:
>
> 4. "Confusingly lame" which might describe when there is a mismatch
>    between NS answers of authoritative servers, some of which point to
>    lame servers 😆
>

Now I don't feel so bad about using 'lame server' and 'lame delegation' to
mean not-entirely-overlapping things. :)


>
>
> I hesitate to suggest it, but is there value in a draft around lameness?
>
> There's value in describing common misconfigurations and how to
detect/name/avoid them.  Does it need to just be a draft about lameness?