IPv6 DNS autoconfiguration?

[Miles Nordin]

On Thu, May 25, 2000 at 12:46:50PM +1000, Robert Elz wrote:
> [special cases for finding a nameserver] ... But, I'm just as likely 
> to need to fine my SMTP server, POP server, printer server, NFS server 
> for my user files, NTP server, HTTP proxy, ...

The difference is, you are likely to ``find'' all those other servers using 
symbolic names.  Especially when their numeric ``name'' is forty characters 
long, you will be inclined to deal with textual hostnames even if you are a 
sloppy and artless sysadmin.  Therefore, you must find the nameserver before 
you go looking for all that other PeeCee Workstation nonsense.

For example, on Unix when I boot diskless boxes I make sure they have a 
reslov.conf immediately so I can use hostnames in fstab.  They need a 
nameserver even before they grab themselves an NFS server for /usr.  The 
nameserver is different from those other servers you mentioned.

I have seen some vendor Unixes that will even resort to setting their 
hostnames from reverse lookup records.  Consider:
  1) get local IPaddr with address discovery or some built-in IPv6 stuff
  2) find nameserver using built-in mysterious clever scheme
  3) perform a reverse-lookup to get hostname.domainname.  Set the 
     hostname and the 'search' domainlist.
  4) default to well-known CNAME's:
      mail.domainname
      pop.domainname
      time.domainname

Thus, there is a crude way of ``finding'' all these less important services, 
even without DHCP, given a way to automatically find a nameserver first.  
It isn't a particularly _good_ way, but it isn't a rediculous way either.  
It serves to demonstrate the ``specialness'' of the nameserver.

While I lack the knowledge to comment on the worthiness of N. Sayer's 
specific scheme, it seems clear to me that giving the nameserver special 
treatment compared to other random daemons is a reasonable thing to do.

Not necessarily desireable, but reasonable to a first order.  I disagree 
with your analogy.

-- 
Miles Nordin / v:+1 720 841-8308 fax:+1 530 579-8680
555 Bryant Street PMB 182 / Palo Alto, CA 94301-1700 / US

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