RFC 6950 · INFORMATIONAL · 2013

Architectural Considerations on Application Features in the DNS

Overview

RFC 6950, “Architectural Considerations on Application Features in the DNS”, is an Informational document published in October 2013 by J. Peterson, O. Kolkman, H. Tschofenig, B. Aboba. The canonical text is published by the RFC Editor.

Abstract

A number of Internet applications rely on the Domain Name System (DNS) to support their operations. Many applications use the DNS to locate services for a domain; some, for example, transform identifiers other than domain names into formats that the DNS can process, and then fetch application data or service location data from the DNS. Proposals incorporating sophisticated application behavior using DNS as a substrate have raised questions about the role of the DNS as an application platform. This document explores the architectural consequences of using the DNS to implement certain application features, and it provides guidance to future application designers as to the limitations of the DNS as a substrate and the situations in which alternative designs should be considered.

Abstract as published in the RFC, via rfc-editor.org.

What “Informational” means

Published for the general information of the community. It does not define an IETF standard and carries no standards-track status.

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The canonical text of RFC 6950 is hosted at rfc-editor.org. Available in TXT,HTML.

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