North American Network Operators Group

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Re: eDNS - Temporary Freeze

  • From: Paul A Vixie
  • Date: Sun May 04 17:16:03 1997

> > What's so difficult to understand about what Paul said?
> 
> You don't understand how DNS works.

I think he does.

> As long as the Internet's cache files on each and every system out there
> point at "a" in their file, there is the potential to break the namespace.

Heck, I guess that would be true of "F" as well.  Shall I break the name
space?  No?  Why not?  Is it because coherence has great value?  OK, so how
shall we determine the synchronization signal for this coherence -- that is,
who can vary and who is required to follow?  The answer is that the owner of
a zone can vary, and the publishers of a zone have to follow.

> One rogue server in a confederation will cause serious problems.

Which is why I expect that the current InterNIC contractor (NSI) will do
whatever the owners of its published but unowned zones (".", MIL, EDU, GOV)
tell them to do.

> NSI has defacto control, because getting them out of the cache files is a
> long and slow process, and until they ARE out their answers will be
> believed.

If NSI tried to become a DNS pirate, I expect that IANA would publish a new
"named.cache" file without NSI in it, and that the world would switch in a
week or less.  Nobody likes DNS pirates -- or hadn't you noticed, Karl?
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