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3. DOMAIN NAME SPACE and RESOURCE RECORDS

3.1. Name space specifications and terminology​

The domain name space is a tree structure. Each node and leaf on the tree corresponds to a resource set (which may be empty). The domain system makes no distinctions between the uses of the interior nodes and leaves, and this memo uses the term "node" to refer to both.

Each node has a label, which is zero to 63 octets in length. Brother nodes may not have the same label, although the same label can be used for nodes which are not brothers. One label is reserved, and that is the null (i.e., zero length) label used for the root.

The domain name of a node is the list of the labels on the path from the node to the root of the tree. By convention, the labels that compose a domain name are printed or read left to right, from the most specific (lowest, farthest from the root) to the least specific (highest, closest to the root).

Internal representation​

Internally, programs that manipulate domain names should represent them as sequences of labels, where each label is a length octet followed by an octet string. Because all domain names end at the root, which has a null string for a label, these internal representations can use a length byte of zero to terminate a domain name.

Case sensitivity​

By convention, domain names can be stored with arbitrary case, but domain name comparisons for all present domain functions are done in a case-insensitive manner, assuming an ASCII character set, and a high order zero bit. This means that you are free to create a node with label "A" or a node with label "a", but not both as brothers; you could refer to either using "a" or "A". When you receive a domain name or label, you should preserve its case. The rationale for this choice is that we may someday need to add full binary domain names for new services; existing services would not be changed.

Absolute and relative names​

When a user needs to type a domain name, the length of each label is omitted and the labels are separated by dots ("."). Since a complete domain name ends with the root label, this leads to a printed form which ends in a dot. We use this property to distinguish between:

  • Absolute names: A character string which represents a complete domain name (often called "absolute"). For example, "poneria.ISI.EDU."

  • Relative names: A character string that represents the starting labels of a domain name which is incomplete, and should be completed by local software using knowledge of the local domain (often called "relative"). For example, "poneria" used in the ISI.EDU domain.

Relative names are either taken relative to a well known origin, or to a list of domains used as a search list. Relative names appear mostly at the user interface, where their interpretation varies from implementation to implementation, and in master files, where they are relative to a single origin domain name. The most common interpretation uses the root "." as either the single origin or as one of the members of the search list, so a multi-label relative name is often one where the trailing dot has been omitted to save typing.

Length limitations​

To simplify implementations, the total number of octets that represent a domain name (i.e., the sum of all label octets and label lengths) is limited to 255.

Domain and subdomain relationships​

A domain is identified by a domain name, and consists of that part of the domain name space that is at or below the domain name which specifies the domain. A domain is a subdomain of another domain if it is contained within that domain. This relationship can be tested by seeing if the subdomain's name ends with the containing domain's name. For example, A.B.C.D is a subdomain of B.C.D, C.D, D, and " ".

3.2. Administrative guidelines on use​

As a matter of policy, the DNS technical specifications do not mandate a particular tree structure or rules for selecting labels; its goal is to be as general as possible, so that it can be used to build arbitrary applications. In particular, the system was designed so that the name space did not have to be organized along the lines of network boundaries, name servers, etc. The rationale for this is not that the name space should have no implied semantics, but rather that the choice of implied semantics should be left open to be used for the problem at hand, and that different parts of the tree can have different implied semantics. For example, the IN-ADDR.ARPA domain is organized and distributed by network and host address because its role is to translate from network or host numbers to names; NetBIOS domains [RFC-1001, RFC-1002] are flat because that is appropriate for that application.

However, there are some guidelines that apply to the "normal" parts of the name space used for hosts, mailboxes, etc., that will make the name space more uniform, provide for growth, and minimize problems as software is converted from the older host table. The political decisions about the top levels of the tree originated in RFC-920. Current policy for the top levels is discussed in [RFC-1032]. MILNET conversion issues are covered in [RFC-1031].

Lower domains which will eventually be broken into multiple zones should provide branching at the top of the domain so that the eventual decomposition can be done without renaming. Node labels which use special characters, leading digits, etc., are likely to break older software which depends on more restrictive choices.

3.3. Technical guidelines on use​

Before the DNS can be used to hold naming information for some kind of object, two needs must be met:

  • A convention for mapping between object names and domain names. This describes how information about an object is accessed.

  • RR types and data formats for describing the object.

These rules can be quite simple or fairly complex. Very often, the designer must take into account existing formats and plan for upward compatibility for existing usage. Multiple mappings or levels of mapping may be required.

Host name mapping​

For hosts, the mapping depends on the existing syntax for host names which is a subset of the usual text representation for domain names, together with RR formats for describing host addresses, etc. Because we need a reliable inverse mapping from address to host name, a special mapping for addresses into the IN-ADDR.ARPA domain is also defined.

Mailbox mapping​

For mailboxes, the mapping is slightly more complex. The usual mail address <local-part>@<mail-domain> is mapped into a domain name by converting <local-part> into a single label (regardless of dots it contains), converting <mail-domain> into a domain name using the usual text format for domain names (dots denote label breaks), and concatenating the two to form a single domain name. Thus the mailbox [email protected] is represented as a domain name by HOSTMASTER.SRI-NIC.ARPA. An appreciation for the reasons behind this design also must take into account the scheme for mail exchanges [RFC-974].

The typical user is not concerned with defining these rules, but should understand that they usually are the result of numerous compromises between desires for upward compatibility with old usage, interactions between different object definitions, and the inevitable urge to add new features when defining the rules. The way the DNS is used to support some object is often more crucial than the restrictions inherent in the DNS.

3.4. Example name space​

The following figure shows a part of the current domain name space, and is used in many examples in this RFC. Note that the tree is a very small subset of the actual name space.

                               |
                               |
         +---------------------+------------------+
         |                     |                  |
        MIL                   EDU                ARPA
         |                     |                  |
         |                     |                  |
   +-----+-----+               |     +------+-----+-----+
   |     |     |               |     |      |           |
  BRL  NOSC  DARPA             |  IN-ADDR  SRI-NIC     ACC
                               |
   +--------+------------------+---------------+--------+
   |        |                  |               |        |
  UCI      MIT                 |              UDEL     YALE
            |                 ISI
            |                  |
        +---+---+              |
        |       |              |
       LCS  ACHILLES  +--+-----+-----+--------+
        |             |  |     |     |        |
        XX            A  C   VAXA  VENERA Mockapetris

In this example, the root domain has three immediate subdomains: MIL, EDU, and ARPA. The LCS.MIT.EDU domain has one immediate subdomain named XX.LCS.MIT.EDU. All of the leaves are also domains.

3.5. Preferred name syntax​

The DNS specifications attempt to be as general as possible in the rules for constructing domain names. The idea is that the name of any existing object can be expressed as a domain name with minimal changes. However, when assigning a domain name for an object, the prudent user will select a name which satisfies both the rules of the domain system and any existing rules for the object, whether these rules are published or implied by existing programs.

For example, when naming a mail domain, the user should satisfy both the rules of this memo and those in RFC-822. When creating a new host name, the old rules for HOSTS.TXT should be followed. This avoids problems when old software is converted to use domain names.

The following syntax will result in fewer problems with many applications that use domain names (e.g., mail, TELNET).

<domain> ::= <subdomain> | " "

<subdomain> ::= <label> | <subdomain> "." <label>

<label> ::= <letter> [ [ <ldh-str> ] <let-dig> ]

<ldh-str> ::= <let-dig-hyp> | <let-dig-hyp> <ldh-str>

<let-dig-hyp> ::= <let-dig> | "-"

<let-dig> ::= <letter> | <digit>

<letter> ::= any one of the 52 alphabetic characters A through Z in
             upper case and a through z in lower case

<digit> ::= any one of the ten digits 0 through 9

Note that while upper and lower case letters are allowed in domain names, no significance is attached to the case. That is, two names with the same spelling but different case are to be treated as if identical.

The labels must follow the rules for ARPANET host names. They must start with a letter, end with a letter or digit, and have as interior characters only letters, digits, and hyphen. There are also some restrictions on the length. Labels must be 63 characters or less.

For example, the following strings identify hosts in the Internet:

A.ISI.EDU  XX.LCS.MIT.EDU  SRI-NIC.ARPA

3.6. Resource Records​

A domain name identifies a node. Each node has a set of resource information, which may be empty. The set of resource information associated with a particular name is composed of separate resource records (RRs). The order of RRs in a set is not significant, and need not be preserved by name servers, resolvers, or other parts of the DNS.

When we talk about a specific RR, we assume it has the following:

owner​

Which is the domain name where the RR is found.

type​

Which is an encoded 16 bit value that specifies the type of the resource in this resource record. Types refer to abstract resources.

This memo uses the following types:

  • A: a host address
  • CNAME: identifies the canonical name of an alias
  • HINFO: identifies the CPU and OS used by a host
  • MX: identifies a mail exchange for the domain. See [RFC-974] for details.
  • NS: the authoritative name server for the domain
  • PTR: a pointer to another part of the domain name space
  • SOA: identifies the start of a zone of authority

class​

Which is an encoded 16 bit value which identifies a protocol family or instance of a protocol.

This memo uses the following classes:

  • IN: the Internet system
  • CH: the Chaos system

TTL​

Which is the time to live of the RR. This field is a 32 bit integer in units of seconds, an is primarily used by resolvers when they cache RRs. The TTL describes how long a RR can be cached before it should be discarded.

RDATA​

Which is the type and sometimes class dependent data which describes the resource:

  • A: For the IN class, a 32 bit IP address. For the CH class, a domain name followed by a 16 bit octal Chaos address.
  • CNAME: a domain name.
  • MX: a 16 bit preference value (lower is better) followed by a host name willing to act as a mail exchange for the owner domain.
  • NS: a host name.
  • PTR: a domain name.
  • SOA: several fields.

RR structure considerations​

The owner name is often implicit, rather than forming an integral part of the RR. For example, many name servers internally form tree or hash structures for the name space, and chain RRs off nodes. The remaining RR parts are the fixed header (type, class, TTL) which is consistent for all RRs, and a variable part (RDATA) that fits the needs of the resource being described.

The meaning of the TTL field is a time limit on how long an RR can be kept in a cache. This limit does not apply to authoritative data in zones; it is also timed out, but by the refreshing policies for the zone. The TTL is assigned by the administrator for the zone where the data originates. While short TTLs can be used to minimize caching, and a zero TTL prohibits caching, the realities of Internet performance suggest that these times should be on the order of days for the typical host. If a change can be anticipated, the TTL can be reduced prior to the change to minimize inconsistency during the change, and then increased back to its former value following the change.

The data in the RDATA section of RRs is carried as a combination of binary strings and domain names. The domain names are frequently used as "pointers" to other data in the DNS.

3.6.1. Textual expression of RRs​

RRs are represented in binary form in the packets of the DNS protocol, and are usually represented in highly encoded form when stored in a name server or resolver. In this memo, we adopt a style similar to that used in master files in order to show the contents of RRs. In this format, most RRs are shown on a single line, although continuation lines are possible using parentheses.

The start of the line gives the owner of the RR. If a line begins with a blank, then the owner is assumed to be the same as that of the previous RR. Blank lines are often included for readability.

Following the owner, we list the TTL, type, and class of the RR. Class and type use the mnemonics defined above, and TTL is an integer before the type field. In order to avoid ambiguity in parsing, type and class mnemonics are disjoint, TTLs are integers, and the type mnemonic is always last. The IN class and TTL values are often omitted from examples in the interests of clarity.

The resource data or RDATA section of the RR are given using knowledge of the typical representation for the data.

For example, we might show the RRs carried in a message as:

ISI.EDU.        MX      10 VENERA.ISI.EDU.
                MX      10 VAXA.ISI.EDU.
VENERA.ISI.EDU. A       128.9.0.32
                A       10.1.0.52
VAXA.ISI.EDU.   A       10.2.0.27
                A       128.9.0.33

The MX RRs have an RDATA section which consists of a 16 bit number followed by a domain name. The address RRs use a standard IP address format to contain a 32 bit internet address.

This example shows six RRs, with two RRs at each of three domain names.

Similarly we might see:

XX.LCS.MIT.EDU. IN      A       10.0.0.44
                CH      A       MIT.EDU. 2420

This example shows two addresses for XX.LCS.MIT.EDU, each of a different class.

3.6.2. Aliases and canonical names​

In existing systems, hosts and other resources often have several names that identify the same resource. For example, the names C.ISI.EDU and USC-ISIC.ARPA both identify the same host. Similarly, in the case of mailboxes, many organizations provide many names that actually go to the same mailbox; for example [email protected], [email protected], and [email protected] all go to the same mailbox (although the mechanism behind this is somewhat complicated).

Most of these systems have a notion that one of the equivalent set of names is the canonical or primary name and all others are aliases.

CNAME records​

The domain system provides such a feature using the canonical name (CNAME) RR. A CNAME RR identifies its owner name as an alias, and specifies the corresponding canonical name in the RDATA section of the RR. If a CNAME RR is present at a node, no other data should be present; this ensures that the data for a canonical name and its aliases cannot be different. This rule also insures that a cached CNAME can be used without checking with an authoritative server for other RR types.

CNAME RRs cause special action in DNS software. When a name server fails to find a desired RR in the resource set associated with the domain name, it checks to see if the resource set consists of a CNAME record with a matching class. If so, the name server includes the CNAME record in the response and restarts the query at the domain name specified in the data field of the CNAME record. The one exception to this rule is that queries which match the CNAME type are not restarted.

For example, suppose a name server was processing a query with for USC-ISIC.ARPA, asking for type A information, and had the following resource records:

USC-ISIC.ARPA   IN      CNAME   C.ISI.EDU

C.ISI.EDU       IN      A       10.0.0.52

Both of these RRs would be returned in the response to the type A query, while a type CNAME or * query should return just the CNAME.

Domain names in RRs which point at another name should always point at the primary name and not the alias. This avoids extra indirections in accessing information. For example, the address to name RR for the above host should be:

52.0.0.10.IN-ADDR.ARPA  IN      PTR     C.ISI.EDU

rather than pointing at USC-ISIC.ARPA. Of course, by the robustness principle, domain software should not fail when presented with CNAME chains or loops; CNAME chains should be followed and CNAME loops signalled as an error.

3.7. Queries​

Queries are messages which may be sent to a name server to provoke a response. In the Internet, queries are carried in UDP datagrams or over TCP connections. The response by the name server either answers the question posed in the query, refers the requester to another set of name servers, or signals some error condition.

In general, the user does not generate queries directly, but instead makes a request to a resolver which in turn sends one or more queries to name servers and deals with the error conditions and referrals that may result. Of course, the possible questions which can be asked in a query does shape the kind of service a resolver can provide.

Message format​

DNS queries and responses are carried in a standard message format. The message format has a header containing a number of fixed fields which are always present, and four sections which carry query parameters and RRs.

The most important field in the header is a four bit field called an opcode which separates different queries. Of the possible 16 values, one (standard query) is part of the official protocol, two (inverse query and status query) are options, one (completion) is obsolete, and the rest are unassigned.

The four sections are:

  • Question: Carries the query name and other query parameters.
  • Answer: Carries RRs which directly answer the query.
  • Authority: Carries RRs which describe other authoritative servers. May optionally carry the SOA RR for the authoritative data in the answer section.
  • Additional: Carries RRs which may be helpful in using the RRs in the other sections.

Note that the content, but not the format, of these sections varies with header opcode.

3.7.1. Standard queries​

A standard query specifies a target domain name (QNAME), query type (QTYPE), and query class (QCLASS) and asks for RRs which match. This type of query makes up such a vast majority of DNS queries that we use the term "query" to mean standard query unless otherwise specified. The QTYPE and QCLASS fields are each 16 bits long, and are a superset of defined types and classes.

The QTYPE field may contain:

  • <any type>: matches just that type. (e.g., A, PTR).
  • AXFR: special zone transfer QTYPE.
  • MAILB: matches all mail box related RRs (e.g. MB and MG).
  • *: matches all RR types.

The QCLASS field may contain:

  • <any class>: matches just that class (e.g., IN, CH).
  • *: matches all RR classes.

Using the query domain name, QTYPE, and QCLASS, the name server looks for matching RRs. In addition to relevant records, the name server may return RRs that point toward a name server that has the desired information or RRs that are expected to be useful in interpreting the relevant RRs. For example, a name server that doesn't have the requested information may know a name server that does; a name server that returns a domain name in a relevant RR may also return the RR that binds that domain name to an address.

Example query and response​

For example, a mailer trying to send mail to [email protected] might ask the resolver for mail information about ISI.EDU, resulting in a query for QNAME=ISI.EDU, QTYPE=MX, QCLASS=IN. The response's answer section would be:

ISI.EDU.        MX      10 VENERA.ISI.EDU.
                MX      10 VAXA.ISI.EDU.

while the additional section might be:

VAXA.ISI.EDU.   A       10.2.0.27
                A       128.9.0.33
VENERA.ISI.EDU. A       10.1.0.52
                A       128.9.0.32

Because the server assumes that if the requester wants mail exchange information, it will probably want the addresses of the mail exchanges soon afterward.

Note that the QCLASS=* construct requires special interpretation regarding authority. Since a particular name server may not know all of the classes available in the domain system, it can never know if it is authoritative for all classes. Hence responses to QCLASS=* queries can never be authoritative.

3.7.2. Inverse queries (Optional)​

Name servers may also support inverse queries that map a particular resource to a domain name or domain names that have that resource. For example, while a standard query might map a domain name to a SOA RR, the corresponding inverse query might map the SOA RR back to the domain name.

Implementation of this service is optional in a name server, but all name servers must at least be able to understand an inverse query message and return a not-implemented error response.

The domain system cannot guarantee the completeness or uniqueness of inverse queries because the domain system is organized by domain name rather than by host address or any other resource type. Inverse queries are primarily useful for debugging and database maintenance activities.

Inverse queries may not return the proper TTL, and do not indicate cases where the identified RR is one of a set (for example, one address for a host having multiple addresses). Therefore, the RRs returned in inverse queries should never be cached.

Inverse queries are NOT an acceptable method for mapping host addresses to host names; use the IN-ADDR.ARPA domain instead.

A detailed discussion of inverse queries is contained in [RFC-1035].

3.8. Status queries (Experimental)​

To be defined.

3.9. Completion queries (Obsolete)​

The optional completion services described in RFCs 882 and 883 have been deleted. Redesigned services may become available in the future, or the opcodes may be reclaimed for other use.

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