RFC 1537 (rfc1537) - Page 2 of 9
Common DNS Data File Configuration Errors
Alternative Format: Original Text Document
RFC 1537 Common DNS Data File Configuration Errors October 1993
- Refresh: The SOA record of the primary server is checked
every "refresh" time by the secondary servers;
if it has changed, a zone transfer is done.
- Retry: If a secondary server cannot reach the primary
server, it tries it again every "retry" time.
- Expire: If for "expire" time the primary server cannot
be reached, all information about the zone is
invalidated on the secondary servers (i.e., they
are no longer authoritative for that zone).
- Minimum TTL: The default TTL value for all records in the
zone file; a different TTL value may be given
explicitly in a record when necessary.
(This timer is named "Minimum", and that's
what it's function should be according to
STD 13, RFC 1035, but most (all?)
implementations take it as the default value
exported with records without an explicit TTL
value).
For top level domain servers I would recommend the following values:
86400 ; Refresh 24 hours
7200 ; Retry 2 hours
2592000 ; Expire 30 days
345600 ; Minimum TTL 4 days
For other servers I would suggest:
28800 ; Refresh 8 hours
7200 ; Retry 2 hours
604800 ; Expire 7 days
86400 ; Minimum TTL 1 day
but here the frequency of changes, the required speed of propagation,
the reachability of the primary server etc. play a role in optimizing
the timer values.
2. Glue records
Quite often, people put unnecessary glue (A) records in their zone
files. Even worse is that I've even seen *wrong* glue records for an
external host in a primary zone file! Glue records need only be in a
zone file if the server host is within the zone and there is no A
record for that host elsewhere in the zone file.
Beertema