Re: [DNSOP] Question regarding RFC 8499

Evan Hunt <each@isc.org> Thu, 23 July 2020 21:31 UTC

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Date: Thu, 23 Jul 2020 21:31:49 +0000
From: Evan Hunt <each@isc.org>
To: Paul Vixie <paul@redbarn.org>
Cc: Joe Abley <jabley@hopcount.ca>, dnsop@ietf.org, Robert Edmonds <edmonds@mycre.ws>
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Subject: Re: [DNSOP] Question regarding RFC 8499
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On Thu, Jul 23, 2020 at 07:40:25PM +0000, Paul Vixie wrote:
> -1. there are zones lacking primaries, and a secondary which can also
> talk to other secondaries gives a second role to those other secondaries.
> we must not simply revert to the STD 13 terminology. the role of an
> authority server depends on what zone we're talking about and what other
> server they're talking to. that's why i've recommended we stop talking
> about "primary servers" or "secondary servers", and instead talk about
> "transfer initiators" and "transfer responders", where the transfer
> pertains to a zone and the initiator or responder is a server's role with
> respect to that zone and that transfer.

I am visualizing a newly-hired and inexperienced administrator being
shown the ropes, and told:

- "this server is the master and that one is the slave",
- "this server is the primary and that one is the secondary", or
- "this server is the responder and that one is the initiator"

...and I think either of the first two versions would be clearer and
more informative to them than the third.

Within the specific context of discussing a zone transfer operation,
"initiator" and "responder" are clear enough, but in the broader context of
servers, service providers, and zone configurations, I don't see it as an
improvement.  (Come to think of it, even in that specific context, there's
potential confusion in the fact that a primary server could meaningfully be
said to "initiate" a transfer operation when it sends a NOTIFY.)

On the other hand, you can say "server A acts as primary for server B",
and it's fairly easy to understand even if technically neither one of
them is *the* primary.

-- 
Evan Hunt -- each@isc.org
Internet Systems Consortium, Inc.