[dns-operations] Introducing CNAME Flattening: RFC-Compliant CNAMEs at a Domain's Root

[David Miller]

On 04/04/2014 06:23 AM, Anthony Eden wrote:
> While CloudFlare did not give any credit to previous work done (which
> sort of pisses me off, but whatever), they are essentially implementing
> the same thing that Amazon did with their ALIAS implementation, the same
> thing that we did with the DNSimple ALIAS implementation, and the same
> thing that DNSMadeEasy did with ANAME records. It's simply synthesizing
> A records based on a DNS resolution of the hostname that the customer
> entered. We also synthesize AAAA records at DNSimple if the query type
> warrants it.

Everything old is new again.

I have this brand new earth shattering idea to suspend a seat on a frame
between two wheels, attach a sprocket to the rear wheel, and by means of
a chain between the rear sprocket and a rotating pedal assembly allow a
user to sit on and propel the device forwards.  I call it a
biwheelmobile. :-)

> The use case is to support multiple records on a node where you would
> have previously used a CNAME. The most obvious case is on the zone apex,
> but it's also useful on subdomains where you want to define MX or TXT
> records. In the era of platforms as a service, where they want to be
> able to provide a host name where the IP address may change on a fairly
> regular basis.

^^ This.

> Yes, this is probably not compatible with DNSSEC, I actually haven't
> tried to reason through what will happen in that case since we don't
> support DNSSEC at DNSimple.

It can be compatible with DNSSEC, depending on your implementation.

> I've been thinking about writing an RFC for this, but I've never
> actually done it, and it will take some time to do, however I think
> defining how an ALIAS record will synthesize its response is probably
> something we need at this point. It will also need to describe how TTLs
> are respected, how A vs AAAA vs CNAME questions are treated and what
> failure rules might be expected.

Let me know if decide to write this up and you want input on our (DNS
Made Easy) implementation.  I suspect that our implementation is
different from yours.

-DMM

> Sincerely,
> Anthony Eden
> 
> 
> On Fri, Apr 4, 2014 at 11:23 AM, Marco Davids (SIDN)
> <marco.davids at sidn.nl <mailto:marco.davids at sidn.nl>> wrote:
> 
> 
> 
>     On 04-04-14 11:20, Stephane Bortzmeyer wrote:
> 
>     >
>     >
>     http://blog.cloudflare.com/introducing-cname-flattening-rfc-compliant-cnames-at-a-domains-root
>     >
>     > Funny idea
> 
>     Indeed.
> 
>     Until you want to use DNSSEC.
> 
>     --
>     Marco
> 
> 
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> 
> 
> -- 
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> http://dnsimple.com/
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> 
> 
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