rfc1035.html

this gives details of the network programming

MILNET.  Address nodes are used to hold pointers to primary host names
in the normal domain space.

Network numbers correspond to some non-terminal nodes at various depths
in the IN-ADDR.ARPA domain, since Internet network numbers are either 1,
2, or 3 octets.  Network nodes are used to hold pointers to the primary
host names of gateways attached to that network.  Since a gateway is, by
definition, on more than one network, it will typically have two or more
network nodes which point at it.  Gateways will also have host level
pointers at their fully qualified addresses.

Both the gateway pointers at network nodes and the normal host pointers
at full address nodes use the PTR RR to point back to the primary domain
names of the corresponding hosts.

For example, the IN-ADDR.ARPA domain will contain information about the
ISI gateway between net 10 and 26, an MIT gateway from net 10 to MIT's



Mockapetris                                                    [Page 22]
<HR>
<A href="rfc1035.html">RFC 1035</A>        Domain Implementation and Specification    November 1987


net 18, and hosts A.ISI.EDU and MULTICS.MIT.EDU.  Assuming that ISI
gateway has addresses 10.2.0.22 and 26.0.0.103, and a name MILNET-
GW.ISI.EDU, and the MIT gateway has addresses 10.0.0.77 and 18.10.0.4
and a name GW.LCS.MIT.EDU, the domain database would contain:

    10.IN-ADDR.ARPA.           PTR MILNET-GW.ISI.EDU.
    10.IN-ADDR.ARPA.           PTR GW.LCS.MIT.EDU.
    18.IN-ADDR.ARPA.           PTR GW.LCS.MIT.EDU.
    26.IN-ADDR.ARPA.           PTR MILNET-GW.ISI.EDU.
    22.0.2.10.IN-ADDR.ARPA.    PTR MILNET-GW.ISI.EDU.
    103.0.0.26.IN-ADDR.ARPA.   PTR MILNET-GW.ISI.EDU.
    77.0.0.10.IN-ADDR.ARPA.    PTR GW.LCS.MIT.EDU.
    4.0.10.18.IN-ADDR.ARPA.    PTR GW.LCS.MIT.EDU.
    103.0.3.26.IN-ADDR.ARPA.   PTR A.ISI.EDU.
    6.0.0.10.IN-ADDR.ARPA.     PTR MULTICS.MIT.EDU.

Thus a program which wanted to locate gateways on net 10 would originate
a query of the form QTYPE=PTR, QCLASS=IN, QNAME=10.IN-ADDR.ARPA.  It
would receive two RRs in response:

    10.IN-ADDR.ARPA.           PTR MILNET-GW.ISI.EDU.
    10.IN-ADDR.ARPA.           PTR GW.LCS.MIT.EDU.

The program could then originate QTYPE=A, QCLASS=IN queries for MILNET-
GW.ISI.EDU. and GW.LCS.MIT.EDU. to discover the Internet addresses of
these gateways.

A resolver which wanted to find the host name corresponding to Internet
host address 10.0.0.6 would pursue a query of the form QTYPE=PTR,
QCLASS=IN, QNAME=6.0.0.10.IN-ADDR.ARPA, and would receive:

    6.0.0.10.IN-ADDR.ARPA.     PTR MULTICS.MIT.EDU.

Several cautions apply to the use of these services:
   - Since the IN-ADDR.ARPA special domain and the normal domain
     for a particular host or gateway will be in different zones,
     the possibility exists that that the data may be inconsistent.

   - Gateways will often have two names in separate domains, only
     one of which can be primary.

   - Systems that use the domain database to initialize their
     routing tables must start with enough gateway information to
     guarantee that they can access the appropriate name server.

   - The gateway data only reflects the existence of a gateway in a
     manner equivalent to the current HOSTS.TXT file.  It doesn't
     replace the dynamic availability information from GGP or EGP.



Mockapetris                                                    [Page 23]
<HR>
<A href="rfc1035.html">RFC 1035</A>        Domain Implementation and Specification    November 1987


3.6. Defining new types, classes, and special namespaces

The previously defined types and classes are the ones in use as of the
date of this memo.  New definitions should be expected.  This section
makes some recommendations to designers considering additions to the
existing facilities.  The mailing list [e-mail] is the
forum where general discussion of design issues takes place.

In general, a new type is appropriate when new information is to be
added to the database about an existing object, or we need new data
formats for some totally new object.  Designers should attempt to define
types and their RDATA formats that are generally applicable to all
classes, and which avoid duplication of information.  New classes are
appropriate when the DNS is to be used for a new protocol, etc which
requires new class-specific data formats, or when a copy of the existing
name space is desired, but a separate management domain is necessary.

New types and classes need mnemonics for master files; the format of the
master files requires that the mnemonics for type and class be disjoint.

TYPE and CLASS values must be a proper subset of QTYPEs and QCLASSes
respectively.

The present system uses multiple RRs to represent multiple values of a
type rather than storing multiple values in the RDATA section of a
single RR.  This is less efficient for most applications, but does keep
RRs shorter.  The multiple RRs assumption is incorporated in some
experimental work on dynamic update methods.

The present system attempts to minimize the duplication of data in the
database in order to insure consistency.  Thus, in order to find the
address of the host for a mail exchange, you map the mail domain name to
a host name, then the host name to addresses, rather than a direct
mapping to host address.  This approach is preferred because it avoids
the opportunity for inconsistency.

In defining a new type of data, multiple RR types should not be used to
create an ordering between entries or express different formats for
equivalent bindings, instead this information should be carried in the
body of the RR and a single type used.  This policy avoids problems with
caching multiple types and defining QTYPEs to match multiple types.

For example, the original form of mail exchange binding used two RR
types one to represent a "closer" exchange (MD) and one to represent a
"less close" exchange (MF).  The difficulty is that the presence of one
RR type in a cache doesn't convey any information about the other
because the query which acquired the cached information might have used
a QTYPE of MF, MD, or MAILA (which matched both).  The redesigned



Mockapetris                                                    [Page 24]
<HR>
<A href="rfc1035.html">RFC 1035</A>        Domain Implementation and Specification    November 1987


service used a single type (MX) with a "preference" value in the RDATA
section which can order different RRs.  However, if any MX RRs are found
in the cache, then all should be there.

4. MESSAGES

4.1. Format

All communications inside of the domain protocol are carried in a single
format called a message.  The top level format of message is divided
into 5 sections (some of which are empty in certain cases) shown below:

    +---------------------+
    |        Header       |
    +---------------------+
    |       Question      | the question for the name server
    +---------------------+
    |        Answer       | RRs answering the question
    +---------------------+
    |      Authority      | RRs pointing toward an authority
    +---------------------+
    |      Additional     | RRs holding additional information
    +---------------------+

The header section is always present.  The header includes fields that
specify which of the remaining sections are present, and also specify
whether the message is a query or a response, a standard query or some
other opcode, etc.

The names of the sections after the header are derived from their use in
standard queries.  The question section contains fields that describe a
question to a name server.  These fields are a query type (QTYPE), a
query class (QCLASS), and a query domain name (QNAME).  The last three
sections have the same format: a possibly empty list of concatenated
resource records (RRs).  The answer section contains RRs that answer the
question; the authority section contains RRs that point toward an
authoritative name server; the additional records section contains RRs
which relate to the query, but are not strictly answers for the
question.












Mockapetris                                                    [Page 25]
<HR>
<A href="rfc1035.html">RFC 1035</A>        Domain Implementation and Specification    November 1987


4.1.1. Header section format

The header contains the following fields:

                                    1  1  1  1  1  1
      0  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  0  1  2  3  4  5
    +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
    |                      ID                       |
    +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
    |QR|   Opcode  |AA|TC|RD|RA|   Z    |   RCODE   |
    +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
    |                    QDCOUNT                    |
    +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
    |                    ANCOUNT                    |
    +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
    |                    NSCOUNT                    |
    +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
    |                    ARCOUNT                    |
    +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+

where:

ID              A 16 bit identifier assigned by the program that
                generates any kind of query.  This identifier is copied
                the corresponding reply and can be used by the requester
                to match up replies to outstanding queries.

QR              A one bit field that specifies whether this message is a
                query (0), or a response (1).

OPCODE          A four bit field that specifies kind of query in this
                message.  This value is set by the originator of a query
                and copied into the response.  The values are:

                0               a standard query (QUERY)

                1               an inverse query (IQUERY)

                2               a server status request (STATUS)

                3-15            reserved for future use

AA              Authoritative Answer - this bit is valid in responses,
                and specifies that the responding name server is an
                authority for the domain name in question section.

                Note that the contents of the answer section may have
                multiple owner names because of aliases.  The AA bit



Mockapetris                                                    [Page 26]
<HR>
<A href="rfc1035.html">RFC 1035</A>        Domain Implementation and Specification    November 1987


                corresponds to the name which matches the query name, or
                the first owner name in the answer section.

TC              TrunCation - specifies that this message was truncated
                due to length greater than that permitted on the
                transmission channel.

RD              Recursion Desired - this bit may be set in a query and
                is copied into the response.  If RD is set, it directs
                the name server to pursue the query recursively.
                Recursive query support is optional.

RA              Recursion Available - this be is set or cleared in a
                response, and denotes whether recursive query support is
                available in the name server.

Z               Reserved for future use.  Must be zero in all queries
                and responses.

RCODE           Response code - this 4 bit field is set as part of
                responses.  The values have the following
                interpretation:

                0               No error condition

                1               Format error - The name server was
                                unable to interpret the query.

                2               Server failure - The name server was
                                unable to process this query due to a
                                problem with the name server.

                3               Name Error - Meaningful only for
                                responses from an authoritative name
                                server, this code signifies that the
                                domain name referenced in the query does
                                not exist.

                4               Not Implemented - The name server does
                                not support the requested kind of query.

                5               Refused - The name server refuses to
                                perform the specified operation for
                                policy reasons.  For example, a name
                                server may not wish to provide the
                                information to the particular requester,
                                or a name server may not wish to perform
                                a particular operation (e.g., zone



Mockapetris                                                    [Page 27]
<HR>
<A h