DNS Complexity

ChelleChelle writes "Paul Vixie of Internet Systems Consortium guides us on a journey into the sublime details of the domain name system. Although it contains just a few simple rules, DNS has grown into a system of enormous complexity. This article explores the supposed and true definitions of DNS, and shows some of the tension between the two definitions through the lens of the philosophy of Internet development protocol."

Comments

Taking a risk

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm going to risk sounding like an idiot and say that I think it's inhuman that somebody could write an article explaining how DNS works without having at least one diagram in it. I mean, c'mon, I can wade through piles of opaque text with the best of them, but just throw me a bone here, alright?

Re:DNS DNS DNS DNS

[isaac]

Read this if:

A) You work with DNS regularly and want to know if you know enough for it to make some sense to you. (That's me)

B) You are thinking about implementing a DNS server.

Otherwise, move along, find something that might interest you, but take just a moment to reflect how difficult Internet life would be if DNS wasn't so well designed and crafted.

I admire Paul Vixie a real whole lot (from afar; when the day comes that I have something interesting to say to him directly I'll be sure to mention it but until then, I'm sure he gets enough email.) That said, this article isn't really interesting to someone who really does work intensively with DNS implementations, and for whom intermediate caching nameserver and client resolver behaviour on the wild-and-wooly internet is a matter of near-daily concern.

It's actually rather depressing insofar as it only confirms what those of us in this position have come to discover: that a system loosely defined has become an ecosystem incapable of complete definition. FTA: "Most of it is not written down anywhere, and some of it would still be considered arguable if you got two or three DNS implementers in a room to talk about it." Ain't that the truth.

No, this article should be read by smart technical users and managers who don't have much experience with DNS and who intuitively believe that the way DNS works in the real world is well-defined and handed down on high on stone tablets from some standards-making body - the sort of well-meaning people who haven't yet realized what "RFC" stands for, if you will. For these people, this article could be a useful eye-opener.

-Isaac

BECAUSE of simple rules

[CarpetShark]

His point is that large systems can become unimaginably complex, even when they begin with a very simple set of rules. Particularly when those rules are vague.

It might be more accurate to say that systems can become unimaginably complex BECAUSE they have simple rules. The more rules, the more limitations.