Domain Name System (dns)
------------------------
Charter
Last Modified: 1994-03-18
Current Status: Concluded Working Group
Chair(s):
IAB <sra@hactrn.net>
Service Applications Area Director(s):
Dave Crocker <dcrocker@brandenburg.com>
Service Applications Area Advisor:
Dave Crocker <dcrocker@brandenburg.com>
Mailing Lists:
General Discussion:namedroppers@nic.ddn.mil
To Subscribe: namedroppers-request@nic.ddn.mil
Archive: nicfs.nic.ddn.mil:~/namedroppers/*.Z
Description of Working Group:
The DNS Working Group is concerned with the design, operation, and
evolution of the Domain Name System within the Internet. As the Internet
continues to grow, we expect to serve as a focal point for work on scaling
problems within the current framework, work on protocol evolution as new
mechanisms become necessary, and documentation of current practice for DNS
implementors and administrators. We are also responsible for oversight of
DNS activities by other groups within the IETF to the extent that we
review the impact such work will have on the DNS and make recomendations
to the working groups and IESG as necessary. Since some of these are
ongoing tasks, we do not expect the working group to disband anytime soon.
Several issues are of particular concern at this time:
Scaling: The DNS is the victim of its own success. The global DNS
namespace has grown to the point where administering the top levels of
the tree is nearly as much work as the old NIC host table used to be.
We need to work on ways to distribute the load. Some of the solutions
are likely to be technical, some political or economic; we still treat
the top-level DNS service the way we did when DARPA was footing the
bill, and the funding for that service is in the process of going away.
Security: The DNS is a zero-security system; it is not even as
strong as the IP layer above which it operates. As a result,
accidental spoofing (cache pollution) is an all-too-frequent occurance.
We need to make the DNS more robust against accidental corruption, and
must provide at least an optional authentication mechanism for that
portion of the community that wants one. At the same time, we must not
cripple the existing system by drasticly increasing its bandwidth
consumption or by mandating use of cryptographic techniques that would
preclude worldwide distribution of DNS software. The global DNS
database is exactly that, an existing world-wide database representing
hosts on six continents and (at least) forty-five countries. A
solution that does not take this into account is not acceptable.
Management: The group has a draft document describing MIB extensions to
manage the DNS. It also needs to specify a standard way to dynamically
create and destroy DNS records; SNMP may be an appropriate tool for
this task, but we haven't yet specified enough of the details to know
for certain. The impact that a dynamic update
mechanism will have on the DNS needs to be examined, with particular attention
given to security
and scaling issues.
IPng/Routing: As the fur starts flying in the battle between the IPng
proponants and the new-routing-architecture proponants, it is expected that
groups on both sides will need some amount of support from the DNS.
Such support is likely to be minimal and straightforward, but these proposals
are likely to need ``rush service'' for whatever support they
require. So the working group needs to monitor these activities, stay
involved, and generally do what it can to make sure that DNS support is
not a bottleneck.
The DNS Working Group also needs to examine the impact that any proposed IPng
system would have on the DNS, since the DNS database and protocols have
special provision for IP addresses.
Goals and Milestones:
Done Post the DNS MIB as an Internet-Draft.
FEB 93 Submit the DNS MIB to the IESG for consideration as a
Proposed Standard.
MAR 93 Post an Internet-Draft specifying the dynamic resource
record creation and deletion.
MAR 93 Submit to the IESG the incremental zone transfer mechanism
as a Proposed Standard.
MAR 93 List and prioritize the Working Group's goals, and pick a
subset that is appropriate to pursue at the present time.
JUN 93 Post an Internet-Draft for adding load balancing capability
to the DNS.
NOV 93 Submit the proposal for dynamic resource record
creation/deletion to the IESG for consideration as a
Proposed Standard.
JUL 97 Submit the ``Big Zone'' policy document to the IESG for
consideraton as a policy statement.
JUL 97 Post an Internet-Draft of the ``Big Zone'' policy
recommendations for root and first-level zone adminstraton.
JUL 97 Monitor and offer technical support to the various groups
working on the next version of IP.
JUL 97 Submit to the IESG the document for load balancing in the
DNS as an Informational document.
Done Submit the specification for network naming to the IESG for
consideration as a Proposed Standard.
Done Post as an Internet-Draft a description of the Responsible
Person Record.
Done Post an Internet-Draft specifying the addition of network
naming capability to the DNS.
Done Submit the Responsible Person Record to the IESG for
consideration as a Proposed Standard.
Internet-Drafts:
No Current Internet-Drafts.
Request For Comments:
RFC Stat Published Title
------- -- ----------- ------------------------------------
RFC1480 I JUN 93 The US Domain
RFC1537 I OCT 93 Common DNS Data File Configuration Error
RFC1536 I OCT 93 Common DNS Implementation Errors and Suggested
Fixes.
RFC1612 PS MAY 94 DNS Resolver MIB Extensions
RFC1611 PS MAY 94 DNS Server MIB Extensions
RFC1794 I APR 95 DNS Support for Load Balancing