NEED OF DNS

 To identify an entity, the Internet uses the IP address,

which uniquely identifies the connection of a host to the
Internet. However, people prefer to use names instead of
addresses. Therefore, we need a system that can map a
name to an address or an address to a name.
 HISTORY OF DNS
 When the Internet was small, mapping was done using a
host file. The host file had only two columns: one for the
name and one for the address. Every host could store the
host file on its disk and update it periodically from a
master host file. When a program or user wanted to map
a name to an address, the host consulted the host file and
found the mapping.
 Today, however, it is impossible to have one single host
file relate every address to a name and vice versa. The
host file would be too large to store in every host.
 In addition, it would be impossible to update all the host
files in the world every time there is a change.
 One solution would be to store the entire host file in a
single computer and allow access to this centralized
information to every computer that needs a mapping. But
this would create huge amount of traffic on the Internet.
 INTRODUCTION
 Another solution, the one used today, is to divide this
huge information into smaller parts and store each part
on a different computer. In this method, the host that
needs mapping can contact the closest computer holding
the needed information. This method is used by the
Domain Name System (DNS).
 Design principle of DNS
 The naming system on which DNS is based is a hierarchical and logical tree
structure called the domain namespace.

 An organization obtains authority for parts of the name space, and can add
additional layers of the hierarchy

 In practice, allocation of the domain names generally follows the allocation of IP

address, e.g.,
 All hosts with network prefix 128.143/16 have domain name suffix
virginia.edu
 All hosts on network 128.143.136/24 are in the Computer Science
Department of the University of Virginia
 NAME SPACE
 A name space that maps each address to a unique name
can be organized in two ways:
a. FLAT NAME SPACE
In this, a name is assigned to an address. A name in
this space is a sequence without structure.
Disadvantage: Cannot be used in large systems like
Internet because it must be centrally controlled to
avoid ambiguity and duplication.
b. HIERARCHIAL NAME SPACE
• Each name is made of several parts.
• The first part can define the nature of organization, the
second part can define the name, the third part can define
departments and so on.
• The authority to assign and control the name spaces can be
decentralized.
 DOMAIN NAME SPACE
 To have a hierarchical name space, Domain Name Space
was designed. In this design, the names are defined in an
inverted-tree structure with the root at the top. The tree
can have only 128 levels: level 0 (root) to level 127. Each
level of the tree defines a hierarchical level.
 The DNS Name Space

A portion of the Internet domain name space.

 LABEL: Each node in a tree has a label, which is a string
with a maximum of 63 characters. The root label is a null
string. DNS requires that children of a node have different
labels, which guarantees the uniqueness of the domain
names.

 DOMAIN NAME: Each node in the tree has a domain

name. A full domain name is a sequence of labels
separated by dots(.). The domain names are always read
from the node upto the root.
 Domain name system .

 Each node in the DNS tree represents

a DNS name edu
 Each branch below a node is a DNS
domain.
 DNS domain can contain hosts or virginia.edu
other domains (subdomains)

www.virginia.edu cs.virginia.edu
 Example:
DNS domains are
., edu, virginia.edu, cs.virginia.edu
neon.cs.virginia.edu
 FULLY QUALIFIED DOMAIN NAME (FQDN):
 Every node in the DNS domain tree can be identified by a unique
Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN). The FQDN gives the
position in the DNS tree.
 In this, the label is terminated by a null string.
 It is a domain name that contains the full name of the host.
 It contains all labels, from the most specific to the most general,
that uniquely define the host.

 PARTIALLY QUALIFIED DOMAIN NAME (PQDN)

 In this, the label is not terminated by a null string.
 A PQDN starts with a node but does not reach the root.
 It is used when the name to be resolved belongs to the same site
as the client.
 Top-level domains
 Three types of top-level domains:
 Organizational: 3-character code indicates the function of the
organization
 Used primarily within the US
 Examples: gov, mil, edu, org, com, net
 Geographical: 2-character country or region code
 Examples: us, va, jp, de

 Reverse domains: A special domain (in-addr.arpa) used for IP

address-to-name mapping

There are more than 200 top-level domains.

Organizational top-level domains
com Commercial organizations

edu Educational institutions

gov Government institutions

int International organizations

mil U.S. military institutions

net Networking organizations

org Non-profit organizations

 DISTRIBUTION OF NAME SPACE
Hierarchy of name servers
 The resolution of the root server

hierarchical name space is

done by a hierarchy of name
servers

 Each server is responsible

(authoritative) for a
contiguous portion of the DNS org server edu server gov server com server

namespace, called a zone.

 Zone is a part of the subtree uci.edu .virginia.edu

server server

 DNS server answers queries

about hosts in its zone
cs.virginia.edu
server
Authority and Delegation
 Authority for the root domain is with the Internet
Corporation for Assigned Numbers and Names (ICANN)
 ICANN delegates to accredited registrars (for gTLDs) and
countries for country code top level domains (ccTLDs)
 Authority can be delegated further

 Chain of delegation can be obtained by reading domain

name from right to left.
 Unit of delegation is a “zone”.
DNS Domains and Zones
. (root)
 Each zone is anchored at a
specific domain node, but
zones are not domains. Zone
.edu

 A DNS domain is a branch of

the namespace .uci.edu
.virginia.edu

 A zone is a portion of the DNS

namespace generally stored in math.virginia.edu cs.virginia.edu
a file (It could consists of
multiple nodes)
Zone
Domain
 A server can divide part of its and
zone and delegate it to other domain
servers
Primary and Secondary Name Servers
 For each zone, there must be a primary name server and a secondary
name server
 The primary server (master server) maintains a zone file which has
information about the zone. Updates are made to the primary server
 The secondary server copies data stored at the primary server.

Adding a host:
 When a new host is added (“gold.cs.virginia.edu”) to a zone, the
administrator adds the IP information on the host (IP address and name) to
a configuration file on the primary server
 RESOURCE RECORDS
db.mylab.com
 The database records of
the distributed data base $TTL 86400
mylab.com. IN SOA PC4.mylab.com.
are called resource records hostmaster.mylab.com. (
(RR) 1 ; serial
28800 ; refresh
 Resource records are 7200 ; retry
604800 ; expire
stored in configuration files 86400 ; ttl
)
(zone files) at name
servers. ;
mylab.com. IN NS PC4.mylab.com.
;
localhost A 127.0.0.1
 Left Resource records for a PC4.mylab.com.
PC3.mylab.com.
A
A
10.0.1.41
10.0.1.31
zone: PC2.mylab.com. A 10.0.1.21
PC1.mylab.com. A 10.0.1.11
Resource Records

The principal DNS resource records types.

Resource Records
db.m ylab.com

Max. age of cached data

$TTL 86400 in seconds
mylab.com. IN SOA PC4.mylab.com. hostmaster.mylab.com. (
1 ; serial
* Start of authority (SOA) record.
28800 ; refresh Means: “This name server is
7200 ; retry authoritative for the zone
604800 ; expire Mylab.com”
86400 ; ttl * PC4.mylab.com is the
) name server
* hostmaster@mylab.com is the
;
email address of the person
mylab.com. IN NS PC4.mylab.com.
; in charge
localhost A 127.0.0.1
PC4.mylab.com. A 10.0.1.41 Name server (NS) record.
PC3.mylab.com. A 10.0.1.31 One entry for each authoritative
PC2.mylab.com. A 10.0.1.21 name server
PC1.mylab.com. A 10.0.1.11
Address (A) records.
One entry for each hostaddress
 Resolver and name server
1. An application program on a host
accesses the domain system through Hostname (neon.tcpip-lab.edu)

a DNS client, called the resolver HTTP IP address (128.143.71.21) Resolver

2. Resolver contacts DNS server, called
name server

IP address (128.143.71.21)

(neon.tcpip-lab.edu)
3. DNS server returns IP address to

Hostname
resolver which passes the IP address
to application

 Reverse lookups are also possible,

i.e., find the hostname given an IP Name
address server
Domain name resolution
1. User program issues a request for
the IP address of a hostname
Hostname (neon.tcpip-lab.edu)
2. Local resolver formulates a DNS
HTTP Resolver
query to the name server of the host IP address (128.143.71.21)

3. Name server checks if it is

IP address (128.143.71.21)
authorized to answer the query.

(neon.tcpip-lab.edu)
a) If yes, it responds.

Hostname
b) Otherwise, it will query other
name servers, starting at the
root tree
4. When the name server has the Name
server
answer it sends it to the resolver.
Recursive and Iterative Queries
 There are two types of queries:
 Recursive queries
 Iterative (non-recursive) queries

 The type of query is determined by a bit in the DNS query

 Recursive query: When the name server of a host cannot

resolve a query, the server issues a query to resolve the query
 Iterative queries: When the name server of a host cannot
resolve a query, it sends a referral to another server to the
resolver
Recursive queries
root server
 In a recursive query, the resolver 1st query: neon.cs.virginia.edu
expects the response from the name
Referral to edu name server
server

 If the server cannot supply the 2nd query: neon.cs.virginia.edu

answer, it will send the query to the Referral to virginia.edu name
“closest known” authoritative name server
server (here: In the worst case, the Name edu server
closest known server is the root server 3rd query:
neon.cs.virginia.edu
server)
response
Referral to

query
cs.virginia.edu
 The root sever sends a referral to the name server virginia.edu
“edu” server. Querying this server server
4th query:
yields a referral to the server of neon.cs.virginia.edu
“virginia.edu”
Resolver IP address of
 … and so on neon.cs.virginia.edu
cs.virginia.edu
server
Iterative queries root server

Name u
ed
 In an iterative query, the name server server in ia . r
rg ve
.vi s er
sends a closest known authoritative . cs e
o n
n am
name server a referral to the root ne u
y:

referral to root server

er ed
qu to
server. st
1 rra
l
i a.ed
u
edu server
fe g in
Re .v i r
m e
.cs

query
o n u na
ne ed
 This involves more work for the e ry: i n ia .
u g u
nd q vir rver i a .ed
2 o
t se i n
resolver fe rral . c s .vir
g
n
Re : neo virginia.edu
ry du
rd q u e ia . e
3 .v i rgin server server
cs e
rr a l to n am
e
Ref
Resolver 4th query:
neon.cs.virginia.edu

IP address of cs.virginia.edu
neon.cs.virginia.edu server
 Caching
 To reduce DNS traffic, name servers caches information on
domain name/IP address mappings
 When an entry for a query is in the cache, the server does not
contact other servers
 Note: If an entry is sent from a cache, the reply from the
server is marked as “unauthoritative”