Re: draft-iab-dns-choices-02.txt comments: host names vs domain names

[Edward Lewis <Ed.Lewis@neustar.biz>]

At 17:39 -0500 6/10/05, wayne wrote:
> In <20050610164846.DA199418D@thrintun.hactrn.net> Rob Austein 
> <sra@isc.org> writes:
>
> >  At Thu, 09 Jun 2005 08:03:03 -0500, 'wayne'  wrote:
> > >  So, in order to help this educational process, can someone give a
> > >  short paragraph that explains the differences between host names and
> > >  domain names, why the allowed characterset is different between the
> > >  two and when you should use one or the other?
> >
> >  Really short answer: see RFC 1034 3.5 and RFC 1035 2.3.1.
> >
> >  Slightly longer answer: [...]
>
> Thanks for the description.  I understood it and it matches my
> understanding of the difference between a hostname and a domain name,
> but suspect that it would go right over the head of 99.9% of all
> domain owners.  Heck, I suspect that it too many folks that run DNS
> hosting services wouldn't immediately understand it without reading
> the RFCs and such.

In 1998 I taught Intro to Networking and had a student that already 
owned his own successful hosting service.  At the end of the class he 
thanked me saying that he didn't expect to learn anything but instead 
now understood what all the "knobs" were for - like what an MTU was, 
etc.

It's always going to be that way.  There are a lot of service 
providers that don't fully comprehend the technology they use.  How 
many cab drivers could assemble a carburetor blindfolded?  (Even if 
no car built recently has one?)

This is one of the eternal problems.  There will always be someone 
who thinks there is a simple solution who has only an incomplete 
understanding of the technology.  This tests the patience of both 
those who do have a complete understanding of the technology and an 
incomplete understanding of the problem space and those for whom the 
vice versa is true.

> My point remains that one problem with _prefix tricks is that many
> people can't create them due to software that restricts domain names
> to hostname characters.  But, maybe I'm wrong.  If you think so, let
> me know.
>
> I think that dns-choices should mention this problem.

I agree with this.  The issue in many cases is that "X is not a 
problem for DNS because DNS software is cool" and "X is a problem for 
the users [app writers] of DNS because the software surrounding the 
DNS is a problem."

--
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Edward Lewis                                                +1-571-434-5468
NeuStar

If you knew what I was thinking, you'd understand what I was saying.

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