Re: [DNSOP] DNS Terminology: Glue

[Evan Hunt <[e-mail]>]

On Fri, Mar 13, 2015 at 09:00:34AM -0700, Paul Hoffman wrote:
> If there is a well-accepted name for "address records that come with glue
> records but are not actually glue records", we can add it, but I am
> hesitant for this document becoming a list of things observed in the wild
> that don't already have names.
> 
> FWIW, what we tentatively have for the next draft is:
> 
>    Glue records -- Resource records which are not part of the
>    authoritative data [for a zone], and are address resource records for
>    the servers [in a subzone].  These RRs are only necessary if the name
>    server's name is "below" the cut, and are only used as part of a
>    referral response.  (Definition from RFC 1034, section 4.2.1)

Given the amount of discussion this topic has generated, and the number of
ways I've seen the word used in the past (and, in fact, have used it myself
when speaking imprecisely), a discursive paragraph about common misuses
might be helpful.  Like:

        The term "glue" is sometimes incorrectly used to refer to 
        other resource records in a parent zone that are related to a
        delegation, such as address records included with a referral
        which are not strictly necessary due to the server's domain
        name falling below the zone cut, the authoritative delegation
        (NS), or the delegation signer (DS).

This could help newcomers to the DNS to understand what they're reading
when they encounter terms like "NS glue", but it still stakes out a clear
definition of the word.

-- 
Evan Hunt -- [e-mail]
Internet Systems Consortium, Inc.