intranet hostname lookup only

[Barry Margolin]

In article <e3gi9v$14fp$1 at sf1.isc.org>,
 Kevin Darcy <kcd at daimlerchrysler.com> wrote:

> Barry Margolin wrote:
> 
> >In article <e3dvi9$2iri$1 at sf1.isc.org>,
> > Kevin Darcy <kcd at daimlerchrysler.com> wrote:
> >
> >  
> >
> >>Um, OK, and neither of those constitute "setup [of] bind9" as the 
> >>original poster requested.
> >>    
> >>
> >
> >So?  We're not allowed to infer the higher-level goal, and must answer 
> >based on his misunderstanding of client-side and server-side behavior?
> >
> Infer whatever you want. But, once inferred, unless one believes that 
> fostering shortname resolution is a good idea, one might nevertheless 
> prefer to hold back and answer the question exactly as asked. After all, 
> it's an even "higher-level goal" to nudge novice administrators towards 
> practices that will serve their infrastructure and their user community 
> well in the long term, isn't it?
> 
> Maybe you've never actually had to deal with a user community that is 
> addicted to shortnames and refuses to change their ways, demanding 
> instead that you tie your DNS infrastructure into pretzels to 
> accommodate their practices. So maybe you don't see the "higher-level 
> goal" here. But, for those of us who have to deal with these 
> consequences almost daily, telling someone how to facilitate shortname 
> resolution, where they've never had it before, is like giving a drink to 
> an alcoholic, giving a loaded shotgun to a suicide risk, or whatever 
> your favorite metaphor happens to be. As patronizing as it sounds, 
> sometimes one has to be cruel to be kind. Sometimes a useless answer is 
> the *best* answer, in the long run.

That's a whole different issue.  Telling them *not* to do it at all is 
independent of whether you give a client- or server-based answer.

-- 
Barry Margolin, barmar at alum.mit.edu
Arlington, MA
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