huntting@csn.org (Brad Huntting) (11/20/90)
Can anyone relay any experiences they may have had with having hosts whos name is it's domain name (i.e. csn.org insted of somehost.csn.org). I would like to know if there are any really good nasties I'll run up against before I commit to doing it... many thanx in advance brad huntting@boulder.colorado.edu huntting@csn.org
brian@natinst.com (Brian H. Powell) (06/18/91)
I run a UUCP site called "natinst". We registered a domain (a long
time ago) and have since sent out mail with return address "user@natinst.com".
When we get them here via UUCP, our canonical hostname (from /etc/hosts) is
"natinst.com", so it's no problem to route the mail to the proper destination.
Now, we're going to be joining the internet. I created a BIND database
for the "natinst.com" domain to test things out. There's not a way, in
this database, to declare "natinst.com" (or rather "natinst.com.") as a host.
This makes sense; the host "natinst" should be declared in the ".com" database.
To do this is philosophically illegal, no? (I.e., have a host right under a
top-level domain.)
As I see it, I have no recourse but to change our canonical hostname
to "natinst.natinst.com" (actually anything.natinst.com, except that to
avoid the UUCP name change, use "natinst"). I still plan to have outgoing
mail show "user@natinst.com", and accept incoming mail for "user@natinst.com".
This change seems like the "right" thing to do. Any comments as to the
correctness of this, and of alternatives?
Thanks.
Brian H. Powell, M/S 56-14 National Instruments Corp.
brian@natinst.com 6504 Bridge Point Parkway
uunet!cs.utexas.edu!natinst!brian Austin, Texas 78730-5039
AppleLink:NATINST (512) 338-9119rickert@CS.NIU.EDU (Neil Rickert) (06/19/91)
In article <24652@natinst.natinst.com> you write: > Now, we're going to be joining the internet. I created a BIND database >for the "natinst.com" domain to test things out. There's not a way, in >this database, to declare "natinst.com" (or rather "natinst.com.") as a host. Sure there is. What is wrong with: @ IN A address info and similarly for HINFO, MX or any other records. >This makes sense; the host "natinst" should be declared in the ".com" database. >To do this is philosophically illegal, no? (I.e., have a host right under a >top-level domain.) There is nothing illegal about it. natinst.com can be the name of a host, and of a zone (SOA and NS records). It can also contain other hosts of the form 'machine.natinst.com' or even 'machine.department.natinst.com'. You might prefer to still change your hostname, but there is not compulsion to do so. -- =*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= Neil W. Rickert, Computer Science <rickert@cs.niu.edu> Northern Illinois Univ. DeKalb, IL 60115 +1-815-753-6940
IJAH400@INDYVAX.IUPUI.EDU ("James A. Harvey") (06/20/91)
In article <24652@natinst.natinst.com>, brian@natinst.com (Brian H. Powell) writes: > I run a UUCP site called "natinst". We registered a domain (a long >time ago) and have since sent out mail with return address "user@natinst.com". >When we get them here via UUCP, our canonical hostname (from /etc/hosts) is >"natinst.com", so it's no problem to route the mail to the proper destination. > Now, we're going to be joining the internet. I created a BIND database >for the "natinst.com" domain to test things out. There's not a way, in >this database, to declare "natinst.com" (or rather "natinst.com.") as a host. >This makes sense; the host "natinst" should be declared in the ".com" database. >To do this is philosophically illegal, no? (I.e., have a host right under a >top-level domain.) This is completely false. You are authoritative for every little piece of information about the name natinst.com, the SOA RR, NS RRs, so why should A RRs be treated any differently? One thing to keep in mind is that if you name a host this way, natinst.com must be it's canonical name. > As I see it, I have no recourse but to change our canonical hostname >to "natinst.natinst.com" (actually anything.natinst.com, except that to >avoid the UUCP name change, use "natinst"). I still plan to have outgoing >mail show "user@natinst.com", and accept incoming mail for "user@natinst.com". No. No. Mail is (well, can be) an entirely separate issue. If you like, you can have a host named natinst.com (an A RR for the name natinst.com) and an MX RR for natinst.com also, pointing to natinst.com. Then both ancient (look for A RRs only and don't handle MX RRs) and modern (MX-grokking) mailers will speak to you, and you won't have to do any address-rewriting to make it look right. > This change seems like the "right" thing to do. Any comments as to the >correctness of this, and of alternatives? > Thanks. Now's the time to decide to do it the right way, or rather, to decide what the right way is for you... >Brian H. Powell, M/S 56-14 National Instruments Corp. > brian@natinst.com 6504 Bridge Point Parkway > uunet!cs.utexas.edu!natinst!brian Austin, Texas 78730-5039 > AppleLink:NATINST (512) 338-9119 Jim Harvey, IUPUI Computing Services, ijah400@iupui.edu or harvey@indiana.edu BITNET: IJAH400@INDYVAX UUCP: {...backbones...}!iuvax!iugate!harvey