Subject: Protocol Action: Extension mechanisms for DNS (EDNS0) to Proposed Standard

From: The IESG <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 27 Jul 1999 07:52:14 -0400

The IESG has approved the Internet-Draft 'Extension mechanisms for DNS
(EDNS0)' <draft-ietf-dnsind-edns0-01.txt> as a Proposed Standard.  This
document is the product of the DNS IXFR, Notification, and Dynamic
Update Working Group.  The IESG contact persons are Jeffrey Burgan and
Thomas Narten

Technical Summary
 
The Domain Name System's wire protocol includes a number of fixed
fields whose range of values has been or soon will be exhausted (i.e.,
4-bit RCODEs and 2-bit label types). This document describes
extensions that effectively expand the size of these fields.

In addition, there is currently no way for a resolver to advertise its
capabilities to a server. For example, the current DNS specification
limits the size of a DNS response to 512 octets of data, even though
most resolvers today can handle larger responses. This document
defines a mechanism that allows resolvers to indicate to servers that
they have extended capabilities (e.g., that they are able to accept
larger packets). The mechanism is flexible and allows for future
evolution of the DNS protocol.

The described mechanisms are backwards-compatible with the deployed
DNS infrastrucuture.

Working Group Summary

There was consensus in the WG for this document and no comments were
received during Last Call.

Protocol Quality

This protocol has been reviewed for the IESG by Thomas Narten.