Illustrated TCP/IP Illustrated TCP/IP
by Matthew G. Naugle
Wiley Computer Publishing, John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
ISBN: 0471196568   Pub Date: 11/01/98  

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Chapter 232
Example DNS Database

Example DNS Database

•  Records in the database include:
•  A—host’s IP address
•  PTR—host’s domain name, host identified by its IP address
•  CNAME—host’s canonical name, host identified by an alias domain name
•  MX—host’s or domain’s mail exchanger
•  NS—host’s or domain’s name server(s)
•  SOA—Indicates authority for the domain
•  TXT—generic text record
•  SRV—service location record
•  RP—text name of the person responsible for the domain DNS

A database is made up of records and the DNS is a database. Therefore, common resource record types in the DNS database are:

A Host’s IP address,
PTR Host’s domain name, host identified by its IP address
CNAME Host’s canonical name, host identified by an alias domain name
MX Host’s or domain’s mail exchanger
NS Host’s or domain’s name server(s)
SOA Indicates authority for the domain
TXT Generic text record
SRV Service location record
RP Responsible person

When a resolvers requests information from the server, included in the request will be one of the preceding types. In this way, the server will know exactly what the resolver is requesting; this could be a mail server, an IP address translation, or simply a request for some generic information.

I am not going to explain all the records in the database, but some of the more useful ones are discussed next.


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