Looking for RFC

Kevin Darcy kcd at daimlerchrysler.com
Thu Jan 6 20:28:09 UTC 2000


Barry Margolin wrote:

> In article <3873E9C5.6799F0CC at daimlerchrysler.com>,
> Kevin Darcy  <kcd at daimlerchrysler.com> wrote:
> >Wightman,Andrew wrote:
> >
> >> Can anyone point me to the correct/latest RFC that contains information
> >> about restricted characters within host names for use with DNS?
> >
> >Sorry to nitpick your question, but not all hosts are Internet-connected,
> >and even those that are, may not use their "hostname" -- the name by which
> >the OS instance identifies itself in text form -- for access over the
> >Internet. The RFC's wouldn't presume to cover such situations. The most
> >you're likely to find is an RFC which defines legal "Internet hostnames",
> >i.e. names used for accessing hosts over the Internet. That would be
> >RFC 1123. It incorporates by reference an earlier RFC (952) that defined
> >the format of the HOSTS.TXT file, a kind of replicated,
> >network-encompassing /etc/hosts file the non-scalability of which led to
> >the development of DNS.
>
> If you're using DNS to store an A record, you're presumed to be following
> the Internet protocols, even if you're just on a private internet.  So BIND
> will enforce the RFC's rules.

Granted, this is a BIND list, but my particular clarification was about the
relationship between OS concepts ("hostname") and RFC's, rather than between
BIND and RFC's. My basic point was, if I want to call my machine
"-@(%AE(*A``SDFN", then the RFC's don't have squat to say about it as long as
I don't advertise that name in the Internet DNS.

Whether BIND should be in the business of trying to enforce RFC's in a
non-Internet context, is a whole other can of worms. Since the vast majority of
DNS names and DNS servers I maintain are *not* on the Internet, it seems rather
silly to me personally -- the tail wagging the dog. But then it may make more
sense from the perspective of an Internet/Network Service Provider who deals
almost exclusively with Internet DNS...


- Kevin





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