DNS Root domain forwarder

[HeinrichStorm]

We have an issue where a client has asked us to forward all DNS requests for *.xyz to a specific server. From my understanding you can forward for a specific domain like MyDomain.com but not a root domain.

If I do an nslookup and select the server they provided I am able to resolve the names.

Thank you for your help in advance.

 

[Noway2]

I had to think about this one for a bit. I would say that it depends on if by *.xyz domain you want for that domain to be public or if it is a private LAN domain. The problem with doing .xyz as a public domain is that it would impact the root servers and other TLD (top level domain) servers which are global in scope. Since DNS is like a tree, the more TLDs the more work required by these main servers. There may be ways to request/register a TLD, but if it were easy and inexpensive I think everyone would be doing it and I suspect that it would be quite prohibitive for your situation.

If *.xyx is a non publicly routable LAN range, you can easily configure a local DNS to handle it and have all the hosts with the .xyz domain.

For example, on my my system, the devices resolve to the 192.168.0.x range and the dynamic DNS co-ordinates them as the machine name with the .LAN extension. A couple of these machines are also publicly addressable by their .com or .net domains.

 

[HeinrichStorm]

Thank you for your reply. The domain extension in question is non-internet but not local. Our parent company user .xyz for all their internal sites. For example x.city1.xyz and y.city2.xyz. So the idea is that instead of configuring a forwarder for each and every one I would create a *.xyz forwarder.

If I create them separately it works but when I try to do *.xyz it doesn't. My first impression is that it can't be done, either that or I am missing something stupid.

 

[Noway2]

I think I am understanding what you are after and I am beginning to think that it is do-able. It seems to me that a lot of it depends on how the 'local' DNS is configured.

If I understand you correctly, each facility, location, etc has their own DNS server. You want to have these resolve *.xyz to a particular server at the parent facility.

I am thinking that instead of treating this as a forwarder, which to me says "go here if you can't resolve this yourself", you need to treat .xyz as an address, so that it resolves to the parent location. Same concept, but a little different approach in how it resolves.

What I am not certain of is how to specify this in terms of the DNS. My thinking is that you would want to use a form of A record with a wild card for the domains.

 

[elgrandeperro]

I believe ( I haven't done this in a while) but you can declare the NS servers for the domain .xyz seeded in your root cache. The root cache is just a hint (for .) so your would add this to the root cache.

xyz. 3600000 NS nameofxyzdnserver.xyz.
nameofxyzdnsserver.xyz. 3600000 A A.B.C.D (IP of nameofxyzdnsserver.xyz)

Obviously, I would test with a test dns before implementing this.