GENWiki

Premier IT Outsourcing and Support Services within the UK

User Tools

Site Tools


rfc:rfc2929

Network Working Group D. Eastlake, 3rd Request for Comments: 2929 Motorola BCP: 42 E. Brunner-Williams Category: Best Current Practice Engage

                                                            B. Manning
                                                                   ISI
                                                        September 2000
            Domain Name System (DNS) IANA Considerations

Status of this Memo

 This document specifies an Internet Best Current Practices for the
 Internet Community, and requests discussion and suggestions for
 improvements.  Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

Copyright Notice

 Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2000).  All Rights Reserved.

Abstract

 Internet Assigned Number Authority (IANA) parameter assignment
 considerations are given for the allocation of Domain Name System
 (DNS) classes, Resource Record (RR) types, operation codes, error
 codes, etc.

Table of Contents

 1. Introduction.................................................  2
 2. DNS Query/Response Headers...................................  2
 2.1 One Spare Bit?..............................................  3
 2.2 Opcode Assignment...........................................  3
 2.3 RCODE Assignment............................................  4
 3. DNS Resource Records.........................................  5
 3.1 RR TYPE IANA Considerations.................................  6
 3.1.1 Special Note on the OPT RR................................  7
 3.2 RR CLASS IANA Considerations................................  7
 3.3 RR NAME Considerations......................................  8
 4. Security Considerations......................................  9
 References......................................................  9
 Authors' Addresses.............................................. 11
 Full Copyright Statement........................................ 12

Eastlake, et al. Best Current Practice [Page 1] RFC 2929 DNS IANA Considerations September 2000

1. Introduction

 The Domain Name System (DNS) provides replicated distributed secure
 hierarchical databases which hierarchically store "resource records"
 (RRs) under domain names.
 This data is structured into CLASSes and zones which can be
 independently maintained.  See [RFC 1034, 1035, 2136, 2181, 2535]
 familiarity with which is assumed.
 This document covers, either directly or by reference, general IANA
 parameter assignment considerations applying across DNS query and
 response headers and all RRs.  There may be additional IANA
 considerations that apply to only a particular RR type or
 query/response opcode.  See the specific RFC defining that RR type or
 query/response opcode for such considerations if they have been
 defined.
 IANA currently maintains a web page of DNS parameters.  See
 <http://www.iana.org/numbers.htm>.
 "IETF Standards Action", "IETF Consensus", "Specification Required",
 and "Private Use" are as defined in [RFC 2434].

2. DNS Query/Response Headers

 The header for DNS queries and responses contains field/bits in the
 following diagram taken from [RFC 2136, 2535]:
                                         1  1  1  1  1  1
           0  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  0  1  2  3  4  5
          +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
          |                      ID                       |
          +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
          |QR|   Opcode  |AA|TC|RD|RA| Z|AD|CD|   RCODE   |
          +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
          |                QDCOUNT/ZOCOUNT                |
          +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
          |                ANCOUNT/PRCOUNT                |
          +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
          |                NSCOUNT/UPCOUNT                |
          +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
          |                    ARCOUNT                    |
          +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
 The ID field identifies the query and is echoed in the response so
 they can be matched.

Eastlake, et al. Best Current Practice [Page 2] RFC 2929 DNS IANA Considerations September 2000

 The QR bit indicates whether the header is for a query or a response.
 The AA, TC, RD, RA, AD, and CD bits are each theoretically meaningful
 only in queries or only in responses, depending on the bit.  However,
 many DNS implementations copy the query header as the initial value
 of the response header without clearing bits.  Thus any attempt to
 use a "query" bit with a different meaning in a response or to define
 a query meaning for a "response" bit is dangerous given existing
 implementation.  Such meanings may only be assigned by an IETF
 Standards Action.
 The unsigned fields query count (QDCOUNT), answer count (ANCOUNT),
 authority count (NSCOUNT), and additional information count (ARCOUNT)
 express the number of records in each section for all opcodes except
 Update.  These fields have the same structure and data type for
 Update but are instead the counts for the zone (ZOCOUNT),
 prerequisite (PRCOUNT), update (UPCOUNT), and additional information
 (ARCOUNT) sections.

2.1 One Spare Bit?

 There have been ancient DNS implementations for which the Z bit being
 on in a query meant that only a response from the primary server for
 a zone is acceptable.  It is believed that current DNS
 implementations ignore this bit.
 Assigning a meaning to the Z bit requires an IETF Standards Action.

2.2 Opcode Assignment

 New OpCode assignments require an IETF Standards Action.
 Currently DNS OpCodes are assigned as follows:
     OpCode Name                      Reference
      0     Query                     [RFC 1035]
      1     IQuery  (Inverse Query)   [RFC 1035]
      2     Status                    [RFC 1035]
      3     available for assignment
      4     Notify                    [RFC 1996]
      5     Update                    [RFC 2136]
     6-15   available for assignment

Eastlake, et al. Best Current Practice [Page 3] RFC 2929 DNS IANA Considerations September 2000

2.3 RCODE Assignment

 It would appear from the DNS header above that only four bits of
 RCODE, or response/error code are available.  However, RCODEs can
 appear not only at the top level of a DNS response but also inside
 OPT RRs [RFC 2671], TSIG RRs [RFC 2845], and TKEY RRs [RFC 2930].
 The OPT RR provides an eight bit extension resulting in a 12 bit
 RCODE field and the TSIG and TKEY RRs have a 16 bit RCODE field.
 Error codes appearing in the DNS header and in these three RR types
 all refer to the same error code space with the single exception of
 error code 16 which has a different meaning in the OPT RR from its
 meaning in other contexts.  See table below.
 RCODE   Name    Description                        Reference
 Decimal
   Hexadecimal
  0    NoError   No Error                           [RFC 1035]
  1    FormErr   Format Error                       [RFC 1035]
  2    ServFail  Server Failure                     [RFC 1035]
  3    NXDomain  Non-Existent Domain                [RFC 1035]
  4    NotImp    Not Implemented                    [RFC 1035]
  5    Refused   Query Refused                      [RFC 1035]
  6    YXDomain  Name Exists when it should not     [RFC 2136]
  7    YXRRSet   RR Set Exists when it should not   [RFC 2136]
  8    NXRRSet   RR Set that should exist does not  [RFC 2136]
  9    NotAuth   Server Not Authoritative for zone  [RFC 2136]
 10    NotZone   Name not contained in zone         [RFC 2136]
 11-15           available for assignment
 16    BADVERS   Bad OPT Version                    [RFC 2671]
 16    BADSIG    TSIG Signature Failure             [RFC 2845]
 17    BADKEY    Key not recognized                 [RFC 2845]
 18    BADTIME   Signature out of time window       [RFC 2845]
 19    BADMODE   Bad TKEY Mode                      [RFC 2930]
 20    BADNAME   Duplicate key name                 [RFC 2930]
 21    BADALG    Algorithm not supported            [RFC 2930]
 22-3840         available for assignment
   0x0016-0x0F00
 3841-4095       Private Use
   0x0F01-0x0FFF
 4096-65535      available for assignment
   0x1000-0xFFFF
 Since it is important that RCODEs be understood for interoperability,
 assignment of new RCODE listed above as "available for assignment"
 requires an IETF Consensus.

Eastlake, et al. Best Current Practice [Page 4] RFC 2929 DNS IANA Considerations September 2000

3. DNS Resource Records

 All RRs have the same top level format shown in the figure below
 taken from [RFC 1035]:
                                       1  1  1  1  1  1
         0  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  0  1  2  3  4  5
       +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
       |                                               |
       /                                               /
       /                      NAME                     /
       |                                               |
       +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
       |                      TYPE                     |
       +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
       |                     CLASS                     |
       +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
       |                      TTL                      |
       |                                               |
       +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
       |                   RDLENGTH                    |
       +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--|
       /                     RDATA                     /
       /                                               /
       +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
 NAME is an owner name, i.e., the name of the node to which this
 resource record pertains.  NAMEs are specific to a CLASS as described
 in section 3.2.  NAMEs consist of an ordered sequence of one or more
 labels each of which has a label type [RFC 1035, 2671].
 TYPE is a two octet unsigned integer containing one of the RR TYPE
 codes.  See section 3.1.
 CLASS is a two octet unsigned integer containing one of the RR CLASS
 codes.  See section 3.2.
 TTL is a four octet (32 bit) bit unsigned integer that specifies the
 number of seconds that the resource record may be cached before the
 source of the information should again be consulted.  Zero is
 interpreted to mean that the RR can only be used for the transaction
 in progress.
 RDLENGTH is an unsigned 16 bit integer that specifies the length in
 octets of the RDATA field.

Eastlake, et al. Best Current Practice [Page 5] RFC 2929 DNS IANA Considerations September 2000

 RDATA is a variable length string of octets that constitutes the
 resource.  The format of this information varies according to the
 TYPE and in some cases the CLASS of the resource record.

3.1 RR TYPE IANA Considerations

 There are three subcategories of RR TYPE numbers: data TYPEs, QTYPEs,
 and MetaTYPEs.
 Data TYPEs are the primary means of storing data.  QTYPES can only be
 used in queries.  Meta-TYPEs designate transient data associated with
 an particular DNS message and in some cases can also be used in
 queries.  Thus far, data TYPEs have been assigned from 1 upwards plus
 the block from 100 through 103 while Q and Meta Types have been
 assigned from 255 downwards (except for the OPT Meta-RR which is
 assigned TYPE 41).  There have been DNS implementations which made
 caching decisions based on the top bit of the bottom byte of the RR
 TYPE.
 There are currently three Meta-TYPEs assigned: OPT [RFC 2671], TSIG
 [RFC 2845], and TKEY [RFC 2930].
 There are currently five QTYPEs assigned: * (all), MAILA, MAILB,
 AXFR, and IXFR.
 Considerations for the allocation of new RR TYPEs are as follows:
   Decimal
 Hexadecimal
   0
 0x0000 - TYPE zero is used as a special indicator for the SIG RR [RFC
        2535] and in other circumstances and must never be allocated
        for ordinary use.
   1 - 127
 0x0001 - 0x007F - remaining TYPEs in this range are assigned for data
        TYPEs by IETF Consensus.
   128 - 255
 0x0080 - 0x00FF - remaining TYPEs in this rage are assigned for Q and
        Meta TYPEs by IETF Consensus.
   256 - 32767
 0x0100 - 0x7FFF - assigned for data, Q, or Meta TYPE use by IETF
        Consensus.

Eastlake, et al. Best Current Practice [Page 6] RFC 2929 DNS IANA Considerations September 2000

   32768 - 65279
 0x8000 - 0xFEFF - Specification Required as defined in [RFC 2434].
   65280 - 65535
 0xFF00 - 0xFFFF - Private Use.

3.1.1 Special Note on the OPT RR

 The OPT (OPTion) RR, number 41, is specified in [RFC 2671].  Its
 primary purpose is to extend the effective field size of various DNS
 fields including RCODE, label type, flag bits, and RDATA size.  In
 particular, for resolvers and servers that recognize it, it extends
 the RCODE field from 4 to 12 bits.

3.2 RR CLASS IANA Considerations

 DNS CLASSes have been little used but constitute another dimension of
 the DNS distributed database.  In particular, there is no necessary
 relationship between the name space or root servers for one CLASS and
 those for another CLASS.  The same name can have completely different
 meanings in different CLASSes although the label types are the same
 and the null label is usable only as root in every CLASS.  However,
 as global networking and DNS have evolved, the IN, or Internet, CLASS
 has dominated DNS use.
 There are two subcategories of DNS CLASSes: normal data containing
 classes and QCLASSes that are only meaningful in queries or updates.
 The current CLASS assignments and considerations for future
 assignments are as follows:
   Decimal
 Hexadecimal
   0
 0x0000 - assignment requires an IETF Standards Action.
   1
 0x0001 - Internet (IN).
   2
 0x0002 - available for assignment by IETF Consensus as a data CLASS.
   3
 0x0003 - Chaos (CH) [Moon 1981].
   4
 0x0004 - Hesiod (HS) [Dyer 1987].

Eastlake, et al. Best Current Practice [Page 7] RFC 2929 DNS IANA Considerations September 2000

   5 - 127
 0x0005 - 0x007F - available for assignment by IETF Consensus as data
        CLASSes only.
   128 - 253
 0x0080 - 0x00FD - available for assignment by IETF Consensus as
        QCLASSes only.
   254
 0x00FE - QCLASS None [RFC 2136].
   255
 0x00FF - QCLASS Any [RFC 1035].
   256 - 32767
 0x0100 - 0x7FFF - assigned by IETF Consensus.
   32768 - 65280
 0x8000 - 0xFEFF - assigned based on Specification Required as defined
        in [RFC 2434].
   65280 - 65534
 0xFF00 - 0xFFFE - Private Use.
   65535
 0xFFFF - can only be assigned by an IETF Standards Action.

3.3 RR NAME Considerations

 DNS NAMEs are sequences of labels [RFC 1035].  The last label in each
 NAME is "ROOT" which is the zero length label.  By definition, the
 null or ROOT label can not be used for any other NAME purpose.
 At the present time, there are two categories of label types, data
 labels and compression labels.  Compression labels are pointers to
 data labels elsewhere within an RR or DNS message and are intended to
 shorten the wire encoding of NAMEs.  The two existing data label
 types are sometimes referred to as Text and Binary.  Text labels can,
 in fact, include any octet value including zero octets but most
 current uses involve only [US-ASCII].  For retrieval, Text labels are
 defined to treat ASCII upper and lower case letter codes as matching.
 Binary labels are bit sequences [RFC 2673].
 IANA considerations for label types are given in [RFC 2671].

Eastlake, et al. Best Current Practice [Page 8] RFC 2929 DNS IANA Considerations September 2000

 NAMEs are local to a CLASS.  The Hesiod [Dyer 1987] and Chaos [Moon
 1981] CLASSes are essentially for local use.  The IN or Internet
 CLASS is thus the only DNS CLASS in global use on the Internet at
 this time.
 A somewhat dated description of name allocation in the IN Class is
 given in [RFC 1591].  Some information on reserved top level domain
 names is in Best Current Practice 32 [RFC 2606].

4. Security Considerations

 This document addresses IANA considerations in the allocation of
 general DNS parameters, not security.  See [RFC 2535] for secure DNS
 considerations.

References

 [Dyer 1987] Dyer, S., and F. Hsu, "Hesiod", Project Athena Technical
             Plan - Name Service, April 1987,
 [Moon 1981] D. Moon, "Chaosnet", A.I. Memo 628, Massachusetts
             Institute of Technology Artificial Intelligence
             Laboratory, June 1981.
 [RFC 1034]  Mockapetris, P., "Domain Names - Concepts and
             Facilities", STD 13, RFC 1034, November 1987.
 [RFC 1035]  Mockapetris, P., "Domain Names - Implementation and
             Specifications", STD 13, RFC 1035, November 1987.
 [RFC 1591]  Postel, J., "Domain Name System Structure and
             Delegation", RFC 1591, March 1994.
 [RFC 1996]  Vixie, P., "A Mechanism for Prompt Notification of Zone
             Changes (DNS NOTIFY)", RFC 1996, August 1996.
 [RFC 2136]  Vixie, P., Thomson, S., Rekhter, Y. and J. Bound,
             "Dynamic Updates in the Domain Name System (DNS UPDATE)",
             RFC 2136, April 1997.
 [RFC 2181]  Elz, R. and R. Bush, "Clarifications to the DNS
             Specification", RFC 2181, July 1997.
 [RFC 2434]  Narten, T. and H. Alvestrand, "Guidelines for Writing an
             IANA Considerations Section in RFCs", BCP 26, RFC 2434,
             October 1998.

Eastlake, et al. Best Current Practice [Page 9] RFC 2929 DNS IANA Considerations September 2000

 [RFC 2535]  Eastlake, D., "Domain Name System Security Extensions",
             RFC 2535, March 1999.
 [RFC 2606]  Eastlake, D. and A. Panitz, "Reserved Top Level DNS
             Names", RFC 2606, June 1999.
 [RFC 2671]  Vixie, P., "Extension mechanisms for DNS (EDNS0)", RFC
             2671, August 1999.
 [RFC 2672]  Crawford, M., "Non-Terminal DNS Name Redirection", RFC
             2672, August 1999.
 [RFC 2673]  Crawford, M., "Binary Labels in the Domain Name System",
             RFC 2673, August 1999.
 [RFC 2845]  Vixie, P., Gudmundsson, O., Eastlake, D. and B.
             Wellington, "Secret Key Transaction Authentication for
             DNS (TSIG)", RFC 2845, May 2000.
 [RFC 2930]  Eastlake, D., "Secret Key Establishment for DNS (TKEY
             RR)", RFC 2930, September 2000.
 [US-ASCII]  ANSI, "USA Standard Code for Information Interchange",
             X3.4, American National Standards Institute: New York,
             1968.

Eastlake, et al. Best Current Practice [Page 10] RFC 2929 DNS IANA Considerations September 2000

Authors' Addresses

 Donald E. Eastlake 3rd
 Motorola
 140 Forest Avenue
 Hudson, MA 01749 USA
 Phone: +1-978-562-2827 (h)
        +1-508-261-5434 (w)
 Fax:   +1-508-261-4447 (w)
 EMail: Donald.Eastlake@motorola.com
 Eric Brunner-Williams
 Engage
 100 Brickstone Square, 2nd Floor
 Andover, MA 01810
 Phone: +1-207-797-0525 (h)
        +1-978-684-7796 (w)
 Fax:   +1-978-684-3118
 EMail: brunner@engage.com
 Bill Manning
 USC/ISI
 4676 Admiralty Way, #1001
 Marina del Rey, CA 90292 USA
 Phone: +1-310-822-1511
 EMail: bmanning@isi.edu

Eastlake, et al. Best Current Practice [Page 11] RFC 2929 DNS IANA Considerations September 2000

Full Copyright Statement

 Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2000).  All Rights Reserved.
 This document and translations of it may be copied and furnished to
 others, and derivative works that comment on or otherwise explain it
 or assist in its implementation may be prepared, copied, published
 and distributed, in whole or in part, without restriction of any
 kind, provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph are
 included on all such copies and derivative works.  However, this
 document itself may not be modified in any way, such as by removing
 the copyright notice or references to the Internet Society or other
 Internet organizations, except as needed for the purpose of
 developing Internet standards in which case the procedures for
 copyrights defined in the Internet Standards process must be
 followed, or as required to translate it into languages other than
 English.
 The limited permissions granted above are perpetual and will not be
 revoked by the Internet Society or its successors or assigns.
 This document and the information contained herein is provided on an
 "AS IS" basis and THE INTERNET SOCIETY AND THE INTERNET ENGINEERING
 TASK FORCE DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING
 BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY THAT THE USE OF THE INFORMATION
 HEREIN WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY RIGHTS OR ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
 MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

Acknowledgement

 Funding for the RFC Editor function is currently provided by the
 Internet Society.

Eastlake, et al. Best Current Practice [Page 12]

/data/webs/external/dokuwiki/data/pages/rfc/rfc2929.txt · Last modified: 2000/09/14 15:52 by 127.0.0.1

Donate Powered by PHP Valid HTML5 Valid CSS Driven by DokuWiki