newbie question

[Kevin Darcy]

Barry Margolin wrote:

> In article <394EB5DA.7ACFA8F at daimlerchrysler.com>,
> Kevin Darcy  <kcd at daimlerchrysler.com> wrote:
> >NOSPAM.michel.marcon at vnumail.com wrote:
> >
> >> Hi (surprised...)
> >>
> >> On 16 Jun 2000 13:34:53 -0700, Barry Margolin <barmar at genuity.net>
> >> wrote:
> >>
> >> >In article <394A5F3F.83BF2069 at daimlerchrysler.com>,
> >> >Kevin Darcy  <kcd at daimlerchrysler.com> wrote:
> >> >>This is not a nameserver function, it's a resolver configuration function.
> >> >>It can be done in the resolver configuration using a default domain or a
> >> >>"searchlist", but my personal recommendation is to nip this thing in the
> >> >>bud as early as possible: get your users into the habit of using
> >> >>fully-qualified names. Otherwise, they'll very likely get confused over
> >> >>the "inconsistency" of being able to use short names for some hosts and
> >> >>protocols, but having to use fully-qualified names for others, e.g. for
> >> >>email to other companies. Also, any kind of resolver "searching" or
> >> >>"matching" algorithm tends to generate lots of bogus queries and thus
> >> >>waste valuable DNS infrastructure resources.
> >> >
> >> >I've never been anywhere that didn't configure their machines so you could
> >> >use unqualified names for hosts on the local network.  I don't think anyone
> >> >is confused by it, any more than they're confused about not having to dial
> >> >the local area code on the phone.
> >
> >> OK Barry. But what about the use of the 'search' directive
> >inresolv.conf ? Isn't
> >> it made exactly for this type of user-behavior ?
> >
> >Yes it was. And I think it was a poor design choice. Care to take a guess at how
> >many wasted queries a day my servers receive because of searchlists *despite* my
> >having done everything possible to discourage their use?
>
> Not enough to make a dent in any nameserver's performance.

Thanks for asking. I had over 250,000 searchlist'ed queries to one of my servers
yesterday, a typical day. Whether or not that's a performance "dent", in my opinion
it's grossly wasteful.

> Some organizations have long domain names (public schools in the US come to
> mind: their domains are of the form <school>.k12.<state>.<us>), and I think
> their users appreciate not having to type those suffixes all the time.

As I said, my ire is directed mainly at searchlists. Having a single default domain
isn't nearly as bad as 6 searchlist elements. But best of all is to just use
fully-qualified names from the get-go. Rapidly-improving client technology
increasingly makes explicit typing of the names unnecessary anyway.


- Kevin