DNS -- reverse zone delegation on a CIDR subnet

Hello Again, Friends!

I am running BIND9 on Debian Linux 3.1 on a Dell Dimension 4100
desktop.

I need some help getting conceptual clarity on reverse zone
delegation.

The terms "registration" and "delegation" seem to be used
interchangeably in the literature. Do they mean the same thing, or
are they different?

The forward zone delegation for my domain is taken care of by the
registrar of my domain (Lunarpages).

However, I believe the delegation of the reverse zone has to be done
by my ISP (different from the domain registrar, in my case).

Is that correct?

To date, my ISP (RCN, which holds a monopoly in our building) has not
been helpful. (They wouldn't even tell me the static IP address that
I'm paying them for until I called their Department of Corporate
Escalations.) Consequently, I don't want discuss reverse zone
delegation with them until I have a pretty good understanding of what
I need them to do.

I have a static IP address from my ISP (RCN) which has provided me
with the following address information:

static IP address: 207.237.37.110
netmask: 255.255.255.224
network: 207.237.37.96
broadcast: 207.237.37.127
gateway: 207.237.37.97
ns1.dns.rcn.net: 207.172.3.8
ns2.dns.rcn.net: 207.172.3.9

An ARIN database search shows that 207.237.37.96 is a subnet of
of the CIDR network 207.237.0.0/16:

http://ws.arin.net/whois/?queryinput=207.237.37.96

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Here is the current delegation of my reverse zone (querying not my own
nameserver but RCN's):

%nslookup –type=any 207.;237.37.110 ns1.dns.rcn.net

Server: ns1.dns.rcn.net
Address: 207.172.3.8#53

Non-authoritative answer:
110.37.237.207.in-addr.arpa name = 207-237-37-110.c3-0.nyr-
ubr2.nyr.ny.static.cable.rcn.com.

Authoritative answers can be found from:
37.237.207.in-addr.arpa nameserver = auth4.dns.rcn.net.
37.237.207.in-addr.arpa nameserver = auth2.dns.rcn.net.
37.237.207.in-addr.arpa nameserver = auth3.dns.rcn.net.
37.237.207.in-addr.arpa nameserver = auth1.dns.rcn.net.
auth1.dns.rcn.net internet address = 207.172.3.20
auth2.dns.rcn.net internet address = 207.172.11.14
auth3.dns.rcn.net internet address = 207.172.3.21
auth4.dns.rcn.net internet address = 207.172.3.22
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

All the material I have read on DNS configuration ("DNS and BIND",
"Linux System Administration") starts from the assumption that you
have authority delegated for a whole subnet. The subnet is identified
in named.conf, and the hosts within the subnet are identified in PTR
records in the reverse zone file. I don't have a subnet -- just a
static IP address on a subnet that my RCN is operating. RCN is not
going to delegate the whole subnet to me., so I don't know how I would
handle this case.

From reading the DNS HOWTO http://tldp.org/HOWTO/DNS-HOWTO-5.html
("You've Got a Classless Subnet"), I learned that configuring a
reverse lookup for a classless subnet is tricky, and that my ISP may
not know how to do it. Unfortunately, the hyperlink "Ask Mr. DNS"
http://www.acmebw.com/askmrdns/00007.htm which is supposed to explain
how to configure a reverse lookup for a classless subnet is broken, so
I can't read what appears to be very important material on this topic.

Does anyone happen to have access to the contents of "Ask Mr. DNS"?
Alternatively, is there another source on this topic?

Thanks, as always, for your insights.

Best Regards,

Vwaju
New York City
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: How to configure a reverse subnet correctly
    ... >> I have created the subnet for 81.2.105 using the wizard. ... >> I have added a delegation for 208-223 beneath this zone. ... Then create the PTR records in that zone (the DNS management console ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.dns)
  • PTRs not getting registered
    ... I created a new DHCP scope to allocate addresses in the new subnet, ... However, it seems that the DHCP-allocated addresses in the new subnet do not appear in the DNS, though fixed addresses do. ... I created a Reverse Zone in the DNS for the 192.168.20.0/22 but no PTRs showed up. ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.dns)
  • Re: AD Integrated DNS - Reverse Lookup - Second Subnet
    ... correctly..When i right click on RDNS zones...do i choose primary zone? ... Alternately, you could simply add one large reverse zone, as I mentioned, and you will not have to worry about additional reverse zones for any new 10.x network. ... I added a second subnet 10.10.3.x which is part of my domain. ... One thing i noticed is that DNS did not automatically create the reverse lookup zone for this other subnet. ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.dns)
  • Re: Slow AD logon if username longer than 8 chars
    ... And it's an AD integrated DNS. ... And it has a reverse zone for the subnet where the DNS is and it also ... captures with that too. ...
    (microsoft.public.win2000.active_directory)
  • Re: AD Integrated DNS - Reverse Lookup - Second Subnet
    ... Alternately, you could simply add one large reverse zone, as I mentioned, and you will not have to worry about additional reverse zones for any new 10.x network. ... I added a second subnet 10.10.3.x which is part of my domain. ... One thing i noticed is that DNS did not automatically create the reverse lookup zone for this other subnet. ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.dns)
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