On Wednesday, November 20, 1996 6:19 AM, Dima Volodin[SMTP:dvv@sprint.net] wrote: @ <<File: ATT00168.txt>> You can use MX records with a port number in the PREFERENCE field and a single 4-byte label in the EXCHANGE field. Or use TXT RRs of whatever format you bloody will. Dima @@@@@@@ Yes, good points... In general I do not think that people have looked closely at the "hidden" features that can be mined from the cryptic DNS system. In my opinion a boundary needs to be placed around the IPv4 "Core" transport network. We can rely on that network for two things: 1. Low-cost international bit transport, using 32 bit addressed encapsulation headers. 2. A working DNS system for use in mapping symbolic names to binary values. A new Internet can be build around the edges of that core network. How the above capabilities are exploited are up to conventions and agreements made outside of that core transport facility. As an example, we are using TXT records to update the name server information in true root name servers. That information is provided by Top Level Domain name servers which provide it via, what looks like, a standard DNS zone file. The root name server uses the DNS zone transfer capabilities to automatically update its records based on the infromation "pulled" from the TLD name server. There are many other applications for the DNS system. I am sure that more and more people will start to invent new uses, now that the "core" transport network is stable and not evolving from a technical point of view as fast as the technology around the edges. -- Jim Fleming UNETY Systems, Inc. Naperville, IL e-mail: JimFleming@unety.net JimFleming@unety.net.s0.g0 (EDNS/IPv8)