Talk:Domain Name System

What is a zone?

Define "zone", please. Mr. Jones 16:46, 14 Dec 2004 (UTC)

done - please let me know if the explanation is clear LionKimbro

URLs?

The section "How the DNS works in theory" uses the term URL to define domain names. URLs can contain domain names but are not the same thing.

mailto:name@somedomain

is a valid URL and has nothing to do with DNS. Matteo 08:21, 2004 Dec 7 (UTC)

hosts file

I think what's referred to as "the HOSTS.TXT file" should be changed to "the hosts file", considering it's most often /etc/hosts on unix-like OSes, and [last time I checked] doesn't even have the .txt extension on Win32. --Midg3t 00:33, 12 Mar 2005 (UTC)

It was called "HOSTS.TXT" in the pre-DNS days 25 years ago. Samboy 22:12, 18 Mar 2005 (UTC)

And that bit is specific: the file that was retrieved was named HOSTS.TXT. Of course, after it was retrieved, it was renamed to whatever the local operating system required. — mendel ☎ 00:56, Jun 16, 2005 (UTC)

Relevant External links were removed

On 26 Apr 2005, a lot of highly relevant external links about the DNS system were removed by 220.225.129.125, see http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Domain_Name_System&diff=12851911&oldid=12847683 I think they should be restored, and like to receive input about this from others. -- JT 04/30/2005

Removal is appropriate, IMO -- Wikipedia is not a repository of links. If there's useful information at those sites that is relevant to the article but is not already mentioned, it should be included in the article — mendel ☎ 00:55, Jun 16, 2005 (UTC)

Don't Merge

Domain Name System is a long article which should discuss technical aspects of the system of domain names.

Domain Name should discuss only the names themselves, including the domain name market, daytrading domain names, domain name auctions, registrars snapping up expired domains, domain name tasting, domain name drops, and other aspects of this industry.

Contradicts "Canonical Name" on internationalization. Secondary and slave.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canonical_name states that: The maximum permitted length of an FQDN is 255 bytes, with an additional restriction to 63 bytes for each label within the domain name. The syntax of domain names is discussed in various RFCs — RFC 1035, RFC 1123 and RFC 2181. Any binary string can be used as the label of any resource record; a common misconception is that names are limited to a subset of ASCII characters.

But "DNS" article states that domain names are limited to a subset of ASCII.

One more issue is that "secondary or slave name servers" expression is used. BIND manual states that "The other authoritative servers, the slave servers (also known as secondary servers)", which looks like secondary is a mere alias for slave. If I'm assuming wrongly, a clarification on the difference in the article would be helpful.

Recursive flag

It's probably a good idea to mention the "Recursion Desired" flag somewhere in the article. This is basically the flag that separates client-server DNS requests from server-server DNS requests. See also http://www.simpledns.com/help/index.html?df_recursion.htm

External Links - Commercial Sites...?

The following links should be considered for removal:

• Zytrax.com, Open Source Guide - DNS for Rocket Scientists, an on-line technical. WP:NOTADVERTISING WP:CONFLICT WP:ELNO
• A listing of some DNS tools WP:NOTADVERTISING WP:CONFLICT WP:ELNO
• CircleID - Open news and opinion hub for all DNS related topics WP:NOTADVERTISING WP:CONFLICT WP:ELNO

No Mention of SRV Records

Is there some reason why this is not mentioned in this article? Are there certain types of records that are not included in this article for a specific reason? Thanks in advance for any input.

"Needs more links" template flag removal?

I did a cursory review of this article, and didn't find many opportunities for adding more wikilinks. Looks like some other newbies already got to it, adding links the past few days. When can this flag be removed? PhotogenicScientist (talk) 19:53, 9 November 2022 (UTC)

It sure looks well-linked at this time. Removal of the flag is entirely discretionary, I'd say it's fine to remove it now. I'll probably have a look through and see if there's further improvements to be had. I'm also going to manually archive some of the ancient stuff above that hasn't auto-archived. cheers. anastrophe, an editor he is. 20:22, 9 November 2022 (UTC)

Total number of entries

Please augment this article with an estimate of the total number of DNS records.

GeneThomas2 (talk) 09:04, 30 October 2023 (UTC)