IPv6 NS glue registration (was Re: getting DNS config to clients)

[Joe Abley]

On 21 Apr 2008, at 17:23, Phil Pennock wrote:

> Nowadays, the name-server setup does have boxes for both IPv4 and IPv6
> addresses, so the knowledge that IPv6 is there is obviously spreading,
> it's only that they didn't support, in automated processes, IPv6- 
> *only*
> NS records.

It ought to be possible to support IPv6-only nameservers if they are  
named carefully (depending on the registry you're talking to).

For most EPP-speaking registries, a host object is only permitted to  
contain address information if it is subordinate to the registry in  
which it has been created. So, for example, in the INFO registry a  
host "NS.EXAMPLE.INFO" *requires* address information; a host  
"NS.EXAMPLE.ORG" in the INFO registry is not permitted to include  
address information.

So, if I was to register EXAMPLE.INFO with the nameservers  
NS1.EXAMPLE.ORG, NS2.EXAMPLE.ORG, and if those nameservers are not  
used to host any ORG domains, there will be no host object in either  
the INFO or ORG registries that contains address information for those  
hosts.

The nameservers serving INFO will simply return referrals in response  
to a query for a name in the EXAMPLE.INFO domain with no courtesy glue  
in the additional section of the response, and resolvers will do  
separate lookups to obtain addresses for those nameservers (which will  
then normally be cached). If either or both of those nameservers have  
AAAA records but no A records, that's entirely supported today, and  
there should be no special gymnastics required on the part of  
registrars.


Joe