[DNSOP] Re: Introducing Relative Label for DNS

[Ben van Hartingsveldt <[e-mail]>]

Dear all,

Today, I released a new version of the draft: 
https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-yocto-dns-relative-label-02. 
I replaced the term "record" with "resource record", updated the 
reference to the EDNS RFC, and added an Acknowledgements section.

@Peter Thomassen: Is it possible to make some list with all interop 
problems for this draft? With such list, I can look for ways to address 
them; or that I conclude to reframe the draft to be for confined systems 
only.

Ben

Ben van Hartingsveldt schreef op 2024-07-23 08:56:
> Dear all,
> 
> Today, I released a new version of the draft: 
> https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-yocto-dns-relative-label-01. 
> I tried to clarify things a little bit more, added some examples and 
> fixed some references.
> 
> Ben
> 
> Ben van Hartingsveldt schreef op 2024-07-21 18:50:
>> Dear all,
>> 
>> In the recent years I started working on my own coded DNS server, 
>> because I was done with the synchronization between BIND and 
>> DirectAdmin that broke all the time. It resulted in a Java server that 
>> is running on 4 IPs for some years now. Because of this, I had to read 
>> many RFCs to have it pass tests like Zonemaster, DNSViz, IntoDNS, etc. 
>> While reading and implementing things, I also came across some 
>> shortcomings of DNS. On advice of someone at SIDN, I will share my 
>> draft that I published today. It solves one of the shortcomings that 
>> DNS has in its core: relative domain names.
>> 
>> I'm talking about 
>> https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-yocto-dns-relative-label-00. 
>> This draft is meant to solve the problem that we cannot use relative 
>> domain names in the DNS system, specificly in DNS UPDATE and in binary 
>> zone files. This also means that this draft is not meant for use with 
>> the QUERY opcode (except for possibly AXFR and IXFR). Let me explain 
>> those two usecases.
>> 
>> 1) DNS UPDATE: In DNS UPDATE it is possible to update the zone using 
>> DNS itself. This can be used in routers when dynamic DNS is wanted, 
>> but also in other situations. Imagine wanting to add an MX record. 
>> Using a webinterface, you are likely able to chooses one of the 
>> following four options:
>> - mail IN MX 10 mx
>> - mail IN MX 10 mx.example.com.
>> - mail.example.com. IN MX 10 mx
>> - mail.example.com. IN MX 10 mx.example.com.
>> However, using DNS UPDATE you are only able to add the record with 
>> fourth format; both record name and FQDN field have to be absolute. 
>> This means that when I return to the webinterface, I will likely see 
>> absolute domain names, even when I use relative domain names in my 
>> other records. My draft wants to give the client more control over 
>> when to use relative and when to use absolute domain names by adding a 
>> new label type.
>> 
>> 2) Binary Zone Files: Since BIND 9, it is possible to save zones in a 
>> binary format. This is possible to enable/disable using 
>> `masterfile-format`. It is possible to convert the textual format to 
>> binary and vice versa. However, when converting to binary, the zone 
>> file will loose the knowledge of knowing which domain names where 
>> absolute and which where relative. This means that converting the zone 
>> back from binary to text will likely give you a zone with only 
>> absolute domain names. As with DNS UPDATE, this is a shortcoming of 
>> the wire format used by DNS.
>> 
>> That is why I wrote this draft. Like BIND, my own DNS system also uses 
>> binary zone storage and in the future I'm planning to implement DNS 
>> UPDATE too. I also believe my draft is not yet perfect. I'm not a 
>> native English speaker and maybe just format to mention something 
>> important. That is why I want you to give your honest opinion on this 
>> topic. Do you agree with the problem? Does DNS need such label? Did I 
>> make a typo? Etc.
>> 
>> Please let me know.
>> 
>> Thanks in advance
>> 
>> Ben van Hartingsveldt
>> 
>> _______________________________________________
>> DNSOP mailing list -- [e-mail]
>> To unsubscribe send an email to [e-mail]
> 
> _______________________________________________
> DNSOP mailing list -- [e-mail]
> To unsubscribe send an email to [e-mail]