DNSEXT Working Group Levon Esibov INTERNET-DRAFT Stuart Kwan Category: Best Current Practice Microsoft February 22, 2001 Dynamic DNS Update of the Top Level Domain and Root Zones This document is an Internet-Draft and is in full conformance with all provisions of Section 10 of RFC2026. Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), its areas, and its working groups. Note that other groups may also distribute working documents as Internet- Drafts. Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any time. It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference material or to cite them other than as "work in progress." The list of current Internet-Drafts can be accessed at http://www.ietf.org/ietf/1id-abstracts.txt The list of Internet-Draft Shadow Directories can be accessed at http://www.ietf.org/shadow.html. 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 (2001). All Rights Reserved. Abstract With an increasing number of implementations where the DNS client is capable of performing dynamic DNS updates, an increase in the number of the dynamic DNS updates sent to the servers hosting top level domain zones has been observed. The purpose of this document is to recommend DNS client configuration that prevents sending dynamic DNS updates for the top level domain zones and root zones. Esibov & Kwan BCP [Page 1] INTERNET-DRAFT Dynamic Update of the TLD DNS Zones 22 February 2001 1. Introduction RFC 2136 [1] specifies Dynamic Updates in DNS, but does not consider updates of the top level domain zones (e.g. "com", "edu", "ca", "uk", etc...) and the root zone as a special case. Usually requests to perform dynamic updates of the top level domain zones and the root zone are expected to fail because these zones (on the Internet) are configured to prohibit any dynamic updates. The same is true for most organizations' private internal DNS infrastructures. The unnecessary load of the dynamic updates sent by DNS clients attempting dynamic updates of these zones consumes the resources of the DNS servers authoritative for these zones and consumes network bandwidth. With an increasing number of implementations where the DNS client is capable of performing dynamic DNS updates, an increase in the number of the dynamic DNS updates sent to the servers hosting top level domain zones has been observed. The purpose of this document is to recommend DNS client configuration that prevents sending dynamic DNS updates for the top level domain zones and root zones. In this document, the key words "MAY", "MUST, "MUST NOT", "optional", "recommended", "SHOULD", and "SHOULD NOT", are to be interpreted as described in [2]. 2. Dynamic updates of the top level domain zones and root zones. To prevent dynamic DNS update requests to the top level domain zones and root zone, it is recommended that DNS clients are configured by default to suppress dynamic DNS updates of the top level domain zones and the root zone. To address the needs of the organizations using top level domain zones and/or the root zone in their private internal DNS infrastructures, and to allow dynamic updates of such zones, DNS clients MAY be configured to allow dynamic DNS updates to be sent to the top level domain zones. 3. IANA Considerations IANA's consideration is not required. 4. Security Considerations This draft does not introduce any additional security concerns. Esibov & Kwan BCP [Page 2] INTERNET-DRAFT Dynamic Update of the TLD DNS Zones 22 February 2001 5. Acknowledgements Authors would like to thank Aristotle Balogh and Mark Kosters for bringing to our attention the raising volume of the dynamic update requests sent to the top level domain zones. We would also like to thank Michael Cretzman for review of this document. 6. Authors' Addresses Levon Esibov Microsoft Corporation One Microsoft Way Redmond, WA 98052 EMail: levone@microsoft.com Stuart Kwan Microsoft Corporation One Microsoft Way Redmond, WA 98052 EMail: skwan@microsoft.com 7. References [1] Vixie, P., Thomson, S., Rekhter, Y., Bound, J., "Dynamic Updates in the Domain Name System (DNS UPDATE)", RFC 2136, April 1997. [2] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997. 8. Intellectual Property Statement The IETF takes no position regarding the validity or scope of any intellectual property or other rights that might be claimed to pertain to the implementation or use of the technology described in this document or the extent to which any license under such rights might or might not be available; neither does it represent that it has made any effort to identify any such rights. Information on the IETF's procedures with respect to rights in standards-track and standards- related documentation can be found in BCP-11. Copies of claims of rights made available for publication and any assurances of licenses to be made available, or the result of an attempt made to obtain a general license or permission for the use of such proprietary rights by implementors or users of this specification can be obtained from the IETF Secretariat. Esibov & Kwan BCP [Page 3] INTERNET-DRAFT Dynamic Update of the TLD DNS Zones 22 February 2001 The IETF invites any interested party to bring to its attention any copyrights, patents or patent applications, or other proprietary rights which may cover technology that may be required to practice this standard. Please address the information to the IETF Executive Director. 9. Full Copyright Statement Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2001). 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." 10. Expiration Date This memo is filed as , and expires August 22, 2001. Esibov & Kwan BCP [Page 4]