Reserved and Special Domain Names Registries
draft-levine-reserved-names-registry-01

Abstract

Within the Domain Name System, several names have been reserved or used for special purposes, some at the top level and some at other levels. IANA registries of Reserved and Special Names can reduce the likelihood of conflict of names and the consequent ambiguity. This specification establishes those registries.

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Table of Contents

1.  Introduction
    1.1.  Discussion List
2.  Registry Definitions
    2.1.  DNS Reserved and Special Top Level Names
    2.2.  Reserved or Special Second Level Domain Names
    2.3.  .ARPA Domain Names
    2.4.  Special Domain Name Components
3.  IANA Considerations
4.  Security Considerations
5.  References
    5.1.  Normative References
    5.2.  Informative References
Appendix A.  Change Log
    A.1.  Changes since -registry-00
§  Author's Address

1.  Introduction

The Domain Name System[RFC1034] (Mockapetris, P., “Domain names - concepts and facilities,” November 1987.) [RFC1035] (Mockapetris, P., “Domain names - implementation and specification,” November 1987.) provides a tree-structured name space with subtrees delegated to different organizations for management. Other than the root, usually written as ".", no name has characteristics technically different from any other. Nevertheless, some names in the DNS have historically been reserved for specific purposes, and have not been made available for delegation. Other names do appear within delegated subtrees, but have by convention had a specialized interpretation. The specialized and reserved names have hitherto been identified in a variety of documents but never listed in one place. This document creates a registries for these reserved and specialized names.

This document does not attempt to describe rules or practices for delegation of subtrees of the DNS.

1.1.  Discussion List

[[ RFC Editor: please remove this section before publication. ]]

Until and unless a WG is created, this proposal will be discussed on the list ietf@ietf.org

2.  Registry Definitions

2.1.  DNS Reserved and Special Top Level Names

2.1.1.  Registry Name

The recommended name of this registry is "DNS Reserved and Special Top Level Names".

2.1.2.  Registry Format

IANA is requested to establish a registry for names that are reserved and special at the top level of the DNS. Registration requests and registry entries should include the following:

Name -

The reserved or special name.

Category -

Reserved, for names not intended to be delegated on the public Internet, or Special, for names intended to be used in specified ways.

Description -

A brief description of the name and, where appropriate, its usage.

Reference -

A reference to an RFC or other definition of the name.

2.1.3.  Criteria for Registration

This registry is intended to collect reserved and special names defined in RFCs and defined by designated managers. For names at the top level, ICANN or its successor as manager must concur with any additions or deletions.

2.1.4.  Initial Contents of Registry

As a service to users of the registry and the authors of existing specifications, all currently known reserved and special names are to be included into the registry upon creation.

Notes:

Cat

Category: R is Reserved, S is Special

#1

The ICANN Draft gTLD Applicant Guidebook (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, “Draft Applicant Guidebook, Version 3,” October 2009.) [ICANNGUIDE] states in section 2.1.1.2 that "ICANN will reserve translations of the terms 'test' and 'example' in multiple languages."

2.2.  Reserved or Special Second Level Domain Names

2.2.1.  Registry Name

The recommended name of this registry is "Reserved or Special Second Level Domain Names".

2.2.2.  Registry Format

IANA is requested to establish a registry for names that are reserved or special at the second level of the DNS. Registration requests and registry entries should include the following:

Name -

The reserved or special name.

Category -

Reserved, for names not intended to be delegated on the public Internet, or Special, for names intended to be used in specified ways.

Description -

A brief description of the name and, where appropriate, its usage.

Reference -

A reference to an RFC or other definition of the name.

2.2.3.  Criteria for Registration

This registry is intended to collect reserved and special names defined in RFCs and defined by designated managers. The manager of the relevant top-level domain must concur with any additions or deletions to entries within that top-level domain.

2.2.4.  Initial Contents of Registry

As a service to users of the registry and the authors of existing specifications, all currently known reserved and special names are to be included into the registry upon creation.

Notes:

Cat

Category: R is Reserved, S is Special

2.3.  .ARPA Domain Names

2.3.1.  Registry Name

The recommended name of this registry is ".ARPA Domain Names".

2.3.2.  Registry Format

IANA is requested to establish a registry for names that are used within the .ARPA internet infrastructure top level domain[RFC3172] (Huston, G., “Management Guidelines & Operational Requirements for the Address and Routing Parameter Area Domain ("arpa"),” September 2001.). Registration requests and registry entries should include the following:

Name -

The reserved or special name.

Category -

Reserved, for names not intended to be delegated on the public Internet, or Special, for names intended to be used in specified ways.

Description -

A brief description of the name and, where appropriate, its usage.

Reference -

A reference to an RFC or other definition of the name.

2.3.3.  Criteria for Registration

This registry is intended to collect reserved and special names defined in RFCs and defined by the designated manager, currently the Internet Architecture Board.

2.3.4.  Initial Contents of Registry

As a service to users of the registry and the authors of existing specifications, all currently known reserved and special names are to be included into the registry upon creation.

Notes:

Cat

Category: R is Reserved, S is Special

2.4.  Special Domain Name Components

2.4.1.  Registry Name

The recommended name of this registry is "Special Domain Name Components".

2.4.2.  Registry Format

IANA is requested to establish a registry for names that have a special interpretation within the DNS. Registration requests and registry entries should include the following:

Name -

The special name.

Category -

Reserved, for names not intended to be delegated on the public Internet, or Special, for names intended to be used in specified ways.

Description -

A brief description of the name and, where appropriate, its usage.

Reference -

A reference to an RFC or other definition of the name.

2.4.3.  Criteria for Registration

This registry is intended to collect special name components defined in RFCs.

2.4.4.  Initial Contents of Registry

As a service to users of the registry and the authors of existing specifications, all currently known reserved and special names are to be included into the registry upon creation.

Notes:

#2

_service means the name of any service, preceded by an underscore, such as _LDAP.

#3

This name appears as the penultimate name of a SRV record, where the leaf name is a _service name, or as a leaf name.

#4

_protocol means the name of any protocol, preceded by an underscore, such as _TCP. RFC 3861 (Peterson, J., “Address Resolution for Instant Messaging and Presence,” August 2004.) [RFC3861] created the "Instant Messaging SRV Protocol Label Registry" for labels corresponding to protocols used in Instant Messaging.

3.  IANA Considerations

IANA is requested to establish the registries described in Section 2.1 (DNS Reserved and Special Top Level Names), Section 2.2 (Reserved or Special Second Level Domain Names), Section 2.3 (.ARPA Domain Names), and Section 2.4 (Special Domain Name Components), using the initial content specified in each of those sections of this document.

New entries should be added to this registry when defined in an RFC and, if required, the relevant manager for the position in the DNS concurs.

4.  Security Considerations

The creation of this registry provides improved documentation and protection against interoperability problems. It introduces no new security issues.

5.  References

5.1. Normative References

5.2. Informative References

Appendix A.  Change Log

NOTE TO RFC EDITOR: This section may be removed upon publication of this document as an RFC.

A.1.  Changes since -registry-00

• Break into three registries
• Add proposed new .ARPA domain servers
• Add more references

Author's Address