DNS resource records

borsky

Webmaster,

here is something else that I happened to find - just for a change - in transcender. (I hope you won't ban me from this forum will you?)

In question C24, transcender uses the term "domain record" which as far as I understand refers to a resource record.
Am I wrong to think that such thing as "domain record" doesn't exist?

RussS

Hey Borsky

Yes there is a domain record. Very simply, when you have multiple DNS servers one of them will have an uptodate database (the record) and the secondary DNS servers will update their records from this database.

I am sure one of the others can give you a more authoritive explanation, but once we get into trees, forests & stuff like that I kind of get lost. I think with my branching off to Security+ I cant see the wood for the trees .... lol

Webmaster

Some things are just what they are, people might refer to them differently though... in this case the word record isn't used often, but it's simply referred to as a subdomain. Anyway the answer itself describes it very well and the explanation is again exactly to the point (of the question/task)

For those that don't have Transcenders 70-218, the main idea here is to make a intranet website available under the FQDN www.intranet.domain.com in a single W2K domain environment, you'll have to create a subdomain in the domain.com zone called intranet and create a CNAME (www) for the IIS server.

Borsky, hopefully this image will convince you enough:



(You might want to spend your time actually trying it yourself instead of trying so hard to find errors in the Transcender 70-218 which is a waste of time... knowing how to perform such tasks are an important part of the exam)

Yes, it is a record in the db, but I can imagine the confusion somewhat , because in reality it is (/can be considered) a table as well, since it is filled with other records just like the zone/domain itself, and the "domain record" itself isn't mapped to an IP address for example, the A and CNAME records in it are... How is it defined in the RFC the records and its database structure? I don't know, never needed to either...

Transcender has some great referrences (mostly four per question) this one for example: www.microsoft.com/windows2000/techinfo/reskit/en-us/default.asp and of course every book for this exam covers the necessary details for this exam, once you understand DNS (on W2K) you'll also understand the question (without doubting the exact wording.) and the task it represents.

The point being: in the context of this question, it is more important to actually know how to use it in practice, a possible future employer doesn't care about the fact if it is known or defined as a record or not, you just have to know how this (task in the question) works. And that's what this question is testing you on, how it works in a real (don't forget what RussS mentioned in another post earlier:) Microsoft network, or even better is teaching you exactly that... for the Managing a W2K Environment exam

But if you really want to know the theory and exact details of the DNS:
http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/dns-rfcs.html

I hope this helps,

Johan

borsky

Thanx for the answer it really helped.

I am not trying to find faults in transcender it just bugs me that the explanations are not clear enough to perfectly understand. Using the term domain record is confusing because it is not used anywhere (I made a thorough reseach), likewise single-part name, is single-label name in manuals, and in the help file.
It is like with translations:if you translate a technical term into another language and then it becomes common knowledge, another translator is obliged to translate that term in the same way otherwise the readers won't understand, or get confused.
Maybe it is not a big deal, but transcender to me was a good study material, and 218 is dissapointing, it does not live up to my expectations and can't trust it anymore.

RussS

You really shouldn't trust any one resource when you are studying. Each and every one of them has mistakes and that is a real pain in the butt. You will however come across many variations of terms as you read different study material - usually they are just minor, but some can confuse easily