Resolving Internet names: Actually call root servers?

Kevin Darcy kcd at daimlerchrysler.com
Fri Sep 1 22:59:16 UTC 2000


ffaure at bigSPAMGAMOUTAKUSANfoot.com wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I was wondering if DNS servers actually call root servers when they
> need to resolve Internet host names, or are queries silently delegated
> to lower-level servers to avoid swamping those few root servers in
> name.ca?

DNS is a distributed database; the Internet root servers don't hold
*all* of the information in the Internet DNS; that would be impractical.
So yes, queries are delegated, but far from "silently": zone delegations
are an integral part of how DNS works; they are effectively the bricks
and mortar that holds the whole DNS namespace together, so they must be
completely visible (audible?), not "silent" at all. You can see
delegations just by doing a lookup of a domain name specifying a record
type of "NS".


- Kevin





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