RFC 1706 (rfc1706) - Page 2 of 10
DNS NSAP Resource Records
Alternative Format: Original Text Document
RFC 1706 DNS NSAP RRs October 1994
1. Introduction
OSI lower layer protocols, comprising the connectionless network
protocol (CLNP) [5] and supporting routing protocols, are deployed in
some parts of the global Internet. Maintenance and debugging of CLNP
connectivity is greatly aided by support in the Domain Name System
(DNS) [7] [8] for mapping between names and NSAP (network service
access point) addresses [6] [Note: NSAP and NSAP address are used
interchangeably throughout this memo].
This document defines the format of one new Resource Record (RR) for
the DNS for domain name-to-NSAP mapping. The RR may be used with any
NSAP address format.
NSAP-to-name translation is accomplished through use of the PTR RR
(see RFC 1035 for a description of the PTR RR). This paper describes
how PTR RRs are used to support this translation.
This memo assumes that the reader is familiar with the DNS. Some
familiarity with NSAPs is useful; see [1] or Annex A of [6] for
additional information.
2. Background
The reason for defining DNS mappings for NSAPs is to support the
existing CLNP deployment in the Internet. Debugging with CLNP ping
and traceroute has become more difficult with only numeric NSAPs as
the scale of deployment has increased. Current debugging is supported
by maintaining and exchanging a configuration file with name/NSAP
mappings similar in function to hosts.txt. This suffers from the lack
of a central coordinator for this file and also from the perspective
of scaling. The former describes the most serious short-term
problem. Scaling of a hosts.txt-like solution has well-known long-
term scaling difficiencies.
3. Scope
The methods defined in this paper are applicable to all NSAP formats.
As a point of reference, there is a distinction between registration
and publication of addresses. For IP addresses, the IANA is the root
registration authority and the DNS a publication method. For NSAPs,
Annex A of the network service definition, ISO8348 [6], describes the
root registration authority and this memo defines how the DNS is used
as a publication method.
Manning & Colella