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- Path: sparky!uunet!cis.ohio-state.edu!magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu!usenet.ins.cwru.edu!slc6!trier
- From: trier@slc6.ins.cwru.edu (Stephen C. Trier)
- Newsgroups: comp.mail.uucp
- Subject: Re: My new domain name -- what do I do with it?
- Date: 16 Dec 1992 19:47:05 GMT
- Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland OH (USA)
- Lines: 44
- Message-ID: <1go13pINNd4l@usenet.INS.CWRU.Edu>
- References: <1992Dec12.192410.28161@wariat.org> <1992Dec15.145739.1359@bogart.uucp>
- NNTP-Posting-Host: slc6.ins.cwru.edu
-
- In article <1992Dec15.145739.1359@bogart.uucp> mfaurot@bogart.uucp (Michael Faurot) writes:
- >What I'm not quite clear on is connectivity requirements between my
- >site and the nameserver. Is it mandatory to have a direct UUCP link
- >between my site and the site providing name service, or can an
- >indirect link be used?
-
- You need a link to a site somewhere on the Internet. It does not have
- to be the name server. For example, I have a site seldon.clv.oh.us.
- A number of name servers are authoritative for that name, of which none
- are even in the same state as me.
-
- The DNS entry for seldon is an "MX", Mail Exchanger, record, which is
- simply a form of indirection that says "send mail for this name to host
- xxx". Host xxx is assumed to know what to do with mail meant for that
- name. In my case, xxx is skybridge.scl.cwru.edu, which knows that mail
- for seldon.clv.oh.us should be queued for pickup by its UUCP neighbor,
- seldon.
-
- Thus, mail sent from anywhere on the Internet to stephen@seldon.clv.oh.us
- first gets forwarded to skybridge.scl.cwru.edu (because of the MX record),
- then to seldon (because skybridge knows I'm a UUCP neighbor).
-
- It is possible for the mail exchanger host to forward it by any method you
- like (carrier pigeon, anyone?), since the MX record makes no promise of
- _how_ mail is delivered. It just assumes it will get through.
-
- Indirect service from a mail exchanger is possible, though undesirable.
- For example, skybridge _could_ rewrite the address x@seldon.clv.oh.us to,
- say, wariat!brauhaus!seldon!x, and forward it on its way. This approach,
- however, tends to rather fragile because any sort of address rewriting in
- the middle sites can cause mail routing loops. Should that happen,
- suddenly the domain name will become a liability since it will cause your
- mail to disappear into loops rather than get delivered.
-
- Indirect service was forbidden for .US hosts when I got my domain name, and
- may still be for all I know. It is not forbidden in the other domains, but
- it is still something to think very carefully about. Generally, you would
- be better off finding a mail exchanger you can call directly.
-
- --
- Stephen Trier "We want to offer you a price that you
- Network software type just can't afford to take advantage of."
- Case Western Reserve University - Sales blurb from HSC Software
- trier@ins.cwru.edu
-