Re: lwdnsq(8)

On Mon, 3 Feb 2003, Michael Richardson wrote:
>     Henry> Section 6.2.2 of RFC 1034 is "conjecture"?  Or have I not understood
>     Henry> the issue here?
> 
>   Well, let me to the experient again.

Dead easy.  I happen to know that zoo.toronto.edu, in addition to the
usual records, has a WKS record (a historical accident).  First, I ask my
local server for everything it knows about zoo ("-a" means "-v -t any"):

[henry@tinker henry]$ host -a zoo.toronto.edu.
rcode = 0 (Success), ancount=5
The following answer is not authoritative:
The following answer is not verified as authentic by the server:
zoo.toronto.edu 28207 IN        NS      zoo.utoronto.ca
zoo.toronto.edu 28207 IN        NS      zircon.zoo.utoronto.ca
zoo.toronto.edu 28207 IN        A       128.100.72.1
zoo.toronto.edu 86318 IN        MX      0 zoo.toronto.edu
zoo.toronto.edu 86318 IN        SOA     zoo.utoronto.ca 
namemaster.zoo.utoronto.ca(
                        2003012102      ;serial (version)
                        10800   ;refresh period
                        1800    ;retry refresh this often
                        604800  ;expiration period
                        86400   ;minimum TTL
                        )
For authoritative answers, see:
zoo.toronto.edu 28207 IN        NS      zoo.utoronto.ca
zoo.toronto.edu 28207 IN        NS      zircon.zoo.utoronto.ca
Additional information:
zoo.utoronto.ca 28207 IN        A       128.100.72.1
zircon.zoo.utoronto.ca  28207 IN        A       128.100.72.2
zoo.toronto.edu 28207 IN        A       128.100.72.1

That's all the usual garbage, because I access that machine with some
frequency so all the usual things are in my server's cache.  Note that
there is no WKS record.  Now, I ask specifically about WKS, and get it:

[henry@tinker henry]$ host -v -t wks zoo.toronto.edu.
rcode = 0 (Success), ancount=1
The following answer is not verified as authentic by the server:
zoo.toronto.edu 86400 IN        WKS     128.100.72.1 tcp smtp
For authoritative answers, see:
zoo.toronto.edu 28188 IN        NS      zoo.utoronto.ca
zoo.toronto.edu 28188 IN        NS      zircon.zoo.utoronto.ca
Additional information:
zoo.utoronto.ca 28188 IN        A       128.100.72.1
zircon.zoo.utoronto.ca  28188 IN        A       128.100.72.2

Note that it really does exist, even though it wasn't in the -a reply.
Now, I ask for everything again:

[henry@tinker henry]$ host -a zoo.toronto.edu.
rcode = 0 (Success), ancount=6
The following answer is not authoritative:
The following answer is not verified as authentic by the server:
zoo.toronto.edu 28174 IN        NS      zoo.utoronto.ca
zoo.toronto.edu 28174 IN        NS      zircon.zoo.utoronto.ca
zoo.toronto.edu 28174 IN        A       128.100.72.1
zoo.toronto.edu 86285 IN        MX      0 zoo.toronto.edu
zoo.toronto.edu 86285 IN        SOA     zoo.utoronto.ca 
namemaster.zoo.utoronto.ca(
                        2003012102      ;serial (version)
                        10800   ;refresh period
                        1800    ;retry refresh this often
                        604800  ;expiration period
                        86400   ;minimum TTL
                        )
zoo.toronto.edu 86386 IN        WKS     128.100.72.1 tcp smtp
For authoritative answers, see:
zoo.toronto.edu 28174 IN        NS      zoo.utoronto.ca
zoo.toronto.edu 28174 IN        NS      zircon.zoo.utoronto.ca
Additional information:
zoo.utoronto.ca 28174 IN        A       128.100.72.1
zircon.zoo.utoronto.ca  28174 IN        A       128.100.72.2
zoo.toronto.edu 28174 IN        A       128.100.72.1

And *now* there's a WKS there.  You get the WKS from type=any only if it
happens to be in the cache because of some previous query.  More generally,
if there's *anything at all* in the cache about that host, type=any gives
you that and only that.

                                                          Henry Spencer
                                                       [email protected]