DNS related RFCs
This is an annotated list of Requests for Comments (RFCs) that are
relevant to DNS, the Domain Name System. RFCs are distributed in
text format, but where available, a link is provided to HTML versions
of these documents.
I believe the HTML versions are correct, but note that in each instance
the text version is the official one, and that the HTML versions may
contain inadvertent mistakes introduced during the conversion process.
Some of these documents are also distributed as
part of the BIND distribution.
- RFC 2606
(BCP 32)
- Reserved Top Level DNS Names by
D. Eastlake and A. Panitz
- Reserves new top-level and second-level domain names for testing and
documentation: .EXAMPLE, .INVALID, .TEST, .LOCALHOST and
EXAMPLE.{COM,NET,ORG}.
- Jun-1999
- RFC 2541
(Informational)
- DNS Security Operational Considerations
by D. Eastlake
- Recommendations on how to manage DNSSEC extensions. Secure DNS is
based on cryptographic techniques. A necessary part of the strength
of these techniques is careful attention to the operational aspects of
key and signature generation, lifetime, size, and storage. In addition,
special attention must be paid to the security of the high level zones,
particularly the root zone. This document discusses these operational
aspects for keys and signatures used in connection with the KEY and SIG
DNS resource records.
An HTML version is available.
- Mar-1999
- RFC 2540
(Experimental)
- Detached Domain Name System (DNS) Information
by D. Eastlake
- Archival and offline storage of DNS information.
An HTML version is available.
- Mar-1999
- RFC 2539
(Proposed Standard)
- Storage of Diffie-Hellman Keys in the Domain Name System (DNS)
by D. Eastlake
- KEY records for storing Diffie-Hellman keys.
An HTML version is available.
- Mar-1999
- RFC 2538
(Proposed Standard)
- Storing Certificates in the Domain Name System (DNS)
by D. Eastlake and O. Gudmundsson
- CERT records for storing certificates and related certificate
revocation lists.
An HTML version is available.
- Mar-1999
- RFC 2537
(Proposed Standard)
- RSA/MD5 KEYs and SIGs in the Domain Name System (DNS)
by D. Eastlake
- Formats for storing RSA keys and RSA/MD5 signatures using KEY and SIG
resource records.
An HTML version is available.
- Mar-1999
- RFC 2536
(Proposed Standard)
- DSA KEYs and SIGs in the Domain Name System (DNS)
by D. Eastlake
- Storing US Government Digital Signature Algorithm keys and signatures
using KEY and SIG resource records.
An HTML version is available.
- Mar-1999
- RFC 2535
(Proposed Standard)
obsoletes RFC 2065;
updates
RFC 2181,
RFC 1035 and
RFC 1034
- Domain Name System Security Extensions
by D. Eastlake
- Updated digital signatures for data integrity and authentication in
the DNS, incorporating implementation feedback. Digital signatures are
included in secured zones as resource records.
An HTML version is available.
- Mar-1999
- RFC 2517
(Informational)
- Building Directories from DNS: Experiences from WWWSeeker
by R. Moats and R. Huber
- Implementation experience from WWWSeeker and Netfind, for those
considering a keyword-like directory to discover domain names.
An HTML version is available.
- Feb-1999
- RFC 2377
(Informational)
- Naming Plan for Internet Directory-Enabled Applications
by A. Grimstad, R. Huber, S. Sataluri and M. Wahl
- Part 2 of the attempted LDAP takeover of DNS. A sensible naming
scheme for LDAP directories, based on the top parts of the DNS name
space. See also RFC 2247.
An HTML version is available.
- Sep-1998
- RFC 2345
(Experimental)
- Domain Names and Company Name Retrieval
by J. Klensin, T. Wolf and G. Oglesby
- Proposes adding extra WHOIS lookup step to browsers to retrieve URLs
instead of relying on intuitive domain names. Similar to the keyword
feature added by Netscape and Microsoft to their browsers in mid-1998.
- May-1998
- RFC 2317
(BCP 20)
- Classless IN-ADDR.ARPA delegation
by H. Eidnes, G. de Groot and P. Vixie
- How to do IN-ADDR.ARPA delegations on arbitrary boundaries, in a
way compatible with existing software, by using CNAME records and new
zones.
An HTML version is available.
- Mar-1998
- RFC 2308
(Proposed Standard)
updates
RFC 1034 and
RFC 1035
- Negative Caching of DNS Queries (DNS NCACHE)
by M. Andrews
- Recommends that negative caching (the caching of information about
non-existence of resource records) becomes mandatory in resolvers.
Also redefines the usage of the TTL field in SOA records to be used for
negative caching, and adds a $TTL directive to replace its former use.
An HTML version is available.
- Mar-1998
- RFC 2307
(Experimental)
- An Approach for Using LDAP as a Network Information Service
by L. Howard
- Mapping NIS-type information into LDAP: aliases, users, protocols,
etc. Not strictly relevant to DNS.
- Mar-1998
- RFC 2247
(Proposed Standard)
- Using Domains in LDAP/X.500 Distinguished Names
by S. Kille, M. Wahl, A. Grimstad, R. Huber and S. Sataluri
- Representing domain names as distinguished names (using a new
X.500 attribute called DC) so that LDAP can contain DNS information.
See also RFC 2377.
An HTML version is available.
- Jan-1998
- RFC 2240
(Informational)
- A Legal Basis for Domain Name Allocation
by O. Vaughan
- Proposes creation of uniform second-level domain names for
commercial organisations, within the country-specific TLD's. Besides a
bunch of typos, there appears to be very little of note in this
document.
- Nov-1997
- RFC 2230
(Informational)
- Key Exchange Delegation Record for the DNS
by R. Atkinson
- KX records for IP security, assuming Secure DNS. KX defines a host
willing to act as a key exchanger for a given domain name.
An HTML version is available.
- Nov-1997
- RFC 2219
(BCP 17)
- Use of DNS Aliases for Network Services
by M. Hamilton and R. Wright
- The IANA name for a protocol should be used as the domain name
for the machine that supports that protocol at a site.
An HTML version is available.
- Oct-1997
- RFC 2182
(BCP 16)
- Selection and Operation of Secondary DNS Servers
by R. Elz, R. Bush, S. Bradner and M. Patton
- How to select secondary servers.
An HTML version is available.
- Jul-1997
- RFC 2181
(Proposed Standard)
updates
RFC 1034,
RFC 1035 and
RFC 1123;
updated by
RFC 2535
- Clarifications to the DNS Specification
by R. Elz and R. Bush
- Clarifications regarding multi-homed servers, TTLs, zone cuts,
SOA records, the TC (truncated) flag, authoritative/canonical names, and
valid labels.
An HTML version is available.
- Jul-1997
- RFC 2168
(Experimental)
- Resolution of Uniform Resource Identifiers
using the Domain Name System
by R. Daniel and M. Mealling
- Defines NAPTR (Naming Authority Pointer) record type, which
maps URI namespace identifiers to domain names.
- Jun-1997
- RFC 2163
(Proposed Standard)
obsoletes RFC 1664
- Using the Internet DNS to Distribute MIXER Conformant Global
Address Mapping (MCGAM)
by C. Allocchio
- Update to RFC 1664, on storing information
in the DNS for mapping between X.400 and RFC 822 email addressing.
Defines new PX record and .X42D.xx second-level domain names for each
country-specific TLD xx.
- Jan-1998
- RFC 2146
(Informational)
obsoletes RFC 1816
- U.S. Government Internet Domain Names
by Federal Networking Council
- Registration procedures in the .GOV top-level domain, and first
steps in its migration to .FED.US.
- May-1997
- RFC 2142
(Proposed Standard)
- Mailbox Names for Common Services, Roles and Functions
by D. Crocker
- Mandates addresses such as ABUSE@domain for complaints to
ISPs, HOSTMASTER@domain as a standard contact for DNS issues, and
LIST-REQUEST@domain for all mailing lists.
An HTML version is available.
- May-1997
- RFC 2137
(Proposed Standard)
updates
RFC 1035
- Secure Domain Name System Dynamic Update
by D. Eastlake 3rd
- Security for dynamic updates.
An HTML version is available.
- Apr-1997
- RFC 2136
(Proposed Standard)
updates
RFC 1035
- Dynamic Updates in the Domain Name System (DNS UPDATE)
by P. Vixie (editor), S. Thomson, Y. Rekhter and J. Bound
- Atomic record-level addition and deletion of DNS information: WINS
done properly.
An HTML version is available.
- Apr-1997
- RFC 2065
(Proposed Standard)
updates
RFC 1034 and
RFC 1035;
obsoleted by RFC 2535
- Domain Name System Security Extensions
by D. Eastlake, 3rd and C. Kaufman
- Digital signatures for data integrity and authentication in the
DNS.
An HTML version is available.
- Jan-1997
- RFC 2053
(Informational)
- The AM (Armenia) Domain
by E. Der-Danieliantz
- Procedures for registering in the AM TLD.
- Oct-1996
- RFC 2052
(Experimental)
updates
RFC 1035 and
RFC 1183
- A DNS RR for specifying the location of services (DNS SRV)
by A. Gulbrandsen and P. Vixie
- Generalised MX records for services other than mail.
- Oct-1996
- RFC 2010
(Informational)
- Operational Criteria for Root Name Servers
by B. Manning and P. Vixie
- Requirements for root name servers.
An HTML version is available.
- Oct-1996
- RFC 1996
(Proposed Standard)
updates
RFC 1035
- Notify: a mechanism for prompt notification of authority zone changes
by P. Vixie
- Describes NOTIFY opcode for advising slave servers that the
master's data has been changed.
An HTML version is available.
- Aug-1996
- RFC 1995
(Proposed Standard)
updates
RFC 1035
- Incremental Zone Transfer in DNS
by M. Ohta
- A mechanism for use with NOTIFY which allows transferring only that
part of the zone that changed.
An HTML version is available.
- Aug-1996
- RFC 1982
(Proposed Standard)
updates
RFC 1034 and
RFC 1035
- Serial Number Arithmetic
by R. Elz and R. Bush
- Defines how serial numbers are compared to determine if a zone has
been updated.
An HTML version is available.
- Aug-1996
- RFC 1956
(Informational)
- Registration in the MIL Domain
by D. Engebretson and R. Plzak
- Describes the registration policy of the US Department of Defense
domain.
- Jun-1996
- RFC 1912
(Informational)
obsoletes RFC 1537
- Common DNS Operational and Configuration Errors
by D. Barr
- Errors and common practice in operation of servers and format of
data.
An HTML version is available.
- Feb-1996
- RFC 1886
(Proposed Standard)
- DNS Extensions to support IP version 6
by S. Thomson and C. Huitema
- Backward-compatible IPv6 DNS extensions, including new AAAA record
type and new domain IP6.INT.
- Dec-1995
- RFC 1884
(Proposed Standard)
- IP Version 6 Addressing Architecture
edited by R. Hinden and S. Deering
- All about IPv6 addresses.
- Dec-1995
- RFC 1876
(Experimental)
updates
RFC 1034 and
RFC 1035;
obsoletes RFC 1712
- A Means for Expressing Location Information in the Domain Name
System
by C. Davis, P. Vixie, T. Goodwin and I. Dickinson
- Geographical location LOC records.
- Jan-1996
- RFC 1816
(Informational)
obsoletes RFC 1811,
obsoleted by RFC 2146
- Aug-1995
- RFC 1811
(Informational)
obsoleted by RFC 1816
- Jun-1995
- RFC 1794
(Informational)
- DNS Support for Load Balancing
by T. Brisco
- DNS support for balancing loads of many types.
- Apr-1995
- RFC 1713
(Informational: FYI 27)
- Tools for DNS debugging
by A. Romao
- Overview of some DNS tools. Now
severely out of date; an IETF effort is underway to update it.
An HTML version is available.
- Nov-1994
- RFC 1712
(Experimental)
obsoleted by RFC 1876
- DNS Encoding of Geographical Location
by C. Farrell, M. Schulze, S. Pleitner and D. Baldoni
- Paul Vixie wrote: `deprecated and retracted by its authors
but the RFC editors accidentally published it anyway'.
- Nov-1994
- RFC 1706
(Informational)
updates
RFC 1034 and
RFC 1035;
obsoletes
RFC 1348 and
RFC 1637
- DNS NSAP Resource Records
by B. Manning and R. Colella
- How to add OSI-style NSAPs to the DNS using PTR records.
- Oct-1994
- RFC 1664
(Experimental)
obsoleted by RFC 2163
- Using the Internet DNS to Distribute RFC1327 Mail Address
Mapping Tables
by C. Allocchio, A. Bonito, B. Cole, S. Giordano and R. Hagens
- Mapping information for converting between X.400 and SMTP addressing
into the DNS.
- Aug-1994
- RFC 1637
(Experimental)
obsoletes
RFC 1348;
obsoleted by
RFC 1706
- Jun-1994
- RFC 1612
(Proposed Standard)
- DNS Resolver MIB Extensions
by R. Austein and J. Saperia
- Interfacing SNMP to the client side of DNS, waiting to be implemented.
- May-1994
- RFC 1611
(Proposed Standard)
- DNS Server MIB Extensions
by R. Austein and J. Saperia
- Interfacing SNMP to the server side of DNS, waiting to be implemented.
- May-1994
- RFC 1591
(Informational)
- Domain Name System Structure and Delegation
by J. Postel
- Administrative and management details about the DNS name space.
- Mar-1994
- RFC 1537
(Informational)
obsoleted by RFC 1912
- Oct-1993
- RFC 1536
(Informational)
- Common DNS Implementation Errors and Suggested Fixes
by A. Kumar, J. Postel, C. Neuman, P. Danzig and S. Miller
- What to fix and how to fix it, for developers.
- Oct-1993
- RFC 1535
(Informational)
- A Security Problem and Proposed Correction With Widely Deployed
DNS Software
by E. Gavron
- Highlights subversion possibilities with default resolver search
lists. In general, resolver search lists should never add domain names to
a basic search string unless the domains are managed by a trusted party.
This means that commonly used search string members such as .COM are
dangerous and should not be used. Six years later, several large
software companies still haven't understood this.
- Oct-1993
- RFC 1480
(Informational)
obsoletes
RFC 1386
- The US Domain
by A. Cooper and J. Postel
- Policies and procedures related to the .US top-level domain.
- Jun-1993
- RFC 1464
(Experimental)
- Using the Domain Name System To Store Arbitrary String Attributes
by R. Rosenbaum
- Using TXT records to store arbitrary strings in the DNS.
- May-1993
- RFC 1386
(Informational)
obsoleted by
RFC 1480
- Jun-1993
- RFC 1348
(Experimental)
updates
RFC 1034 and
RFC 1035;
obsoleted by
RFC 1706
- Jul-1992
- RFC 1183
(Experimental)
updates
RFC 1034 and
RFC 1035;
updated by
RFC 2052
- New DNS RR Definitions
by C. Everhart, L. Mamakos and R. Ullmann and edited by P. Mockapetris
- New resource records, not widely used.
- Oct-1990
- RFC 1178
(Informational: FYI 5)
- Choosing a Name for Your Computer by D. Libes
- Good advice to keep in mind when naming computers, especially as to
what names to avoid.
- Aug-1990
- RFC 1123
(Standard: STD 3)
updated by
RFC 2181
- Requirements for Internet Hosts -- Application and Support
edited by R. Braden
- Includes chapter 6, about DNS.
- Oct-1989
- RFC 1122
(Standard: STD 3)
updates
RFC 1034 and
RFC 1035
- Requirements for Internet Hosts -- Communication Layers
edited by R. Braden
- Section 4 discusses UDP and TCP issues that have important low-level
effects on DNS.
- Oct-1989
- RFC 1101
(Unknown, Proposed Standard?)
updates
RFC 1034 and
RFC 1035
- DNS Encoding of Network Names and Other Types
by P. Mockapetris
- How to add network names and netmasks to the DNS.
- Apr-1989
- RFC 1035
(Standard: STD 13)
updated by RFCs
1101,
1122,
1183,
1706,
1876,
1982,
1995,
1996,
2052,
2136,
2137,
2181,
2308 and
2535;
obsoletes RFCs
882,
883 and
973
- Domain Names--Implementation and Specification
by P. Mockapetris
- Mechanics of the DNS.
An HTML version with
graphic illustrations is available (thanks to Russ Nelson).
A local copy is also available.
- Nov-1987
- RFC 1034
(Standard: STD 13)
updated by RFCs
1101,
1122,
1183,
1706,
1876,
1982,
2181,
2308 and
2535;
obsoletes RFCs
882,
883 and
973
- Domain Names--Concepts and Facilities
by P. Mockapetris
- Reference guide, covers just about everything.
- Nov-1987
- RFC 1033
updated by
RFC 1912
- Domain Administrators Operations Guide
by M. Lottor
- How-to guide, now somewhat out of date.
- Nov-1987
- RFC 1032
- Domain Administrator's Guide
by M. Stahl
- Explains role of domain administrator.
- Nov-1987
- RFC 974
(Standard: STD 14)
- Mail Routing and the Domain System
by Craig Partridge
- Describes MX record processing.
- Jan-1986
- RFC 973
updates
RFC 882 and
RFC 883;
obsoleted by
RFC 1034 and
RFC 1035
- Jan-1986
- RFC 921
updates
RFC 897 and
RFC 881
- Domain name system implementation schedule - revised
by J. Postel
- Documents the 1983-4 plan to switch over to DNS.
- Oct-1984
- RFC 920
- Domain Requirements
by J. Postel and J. Reynolds
- Administrative document about domains. Will become historical
shortly.
- Oct-1984
- RFC 897
updates
RFC 881;
updated by
RFC 921
- Domain name system implementation schedule
by J. Postel
- Documents the 1983-4 plan to switch over to DNS.
- Feb-1984
- RFC 883
updated by
RFC 973;
obsoleted by
RFC 1034 and
RFC 1035
- Nov-1983
- RFC 882
updated by
RFC 973;
obsoleted by
RFC 1034 and
RFC 1035
- Nov-1983
- RFC 881
updated by
RFC 897 and
RFC 921
- The Domain Names Plan and Schedule
by J. Postel
- Documents the 1983-4 plan to switch over to DNS.
- Nov-1983
- RFC 819
- The Domain Naming Convention for Internet User Applications
by Z. Su and J. Postel
- Documents the original structural ideas of DNS.
- Aug-1982
- RFC 811
- Hostnames Server
by K. Harrenstien, V. White and E. Feinler
- The original centralised hostname lookup server.
- Mar-1982
- RFC 805
- Computer Mail Meeting Notes
by J. Postel
- The decision to introduce DNS-type names for mail addressing.
- Feb-1982
Copyright 1994-1999 by András Salamon
<andras@dns.net>