Windows Server 2003 Network Administration

Appendix C. DNS Resource Records

This appendix provides detailed information about the DNS standard resource records (RR) used to construct domain database files. This is primarily a reference to use in conjunction with the tutorial information in Chapter 6. This appendix is divided into three sections.

The first section covers the most commonly used resource records. It shows the DNS console dialog used to enter each commonly used record and the syntax of each standard resource record as it appears in the zone file.

The second section of the appendix covers the resource records that, while available in the DNS console, are less commonly used. In fact, a few of the records covered in this section should not be used because they are obsolete or potential security problems. Where that is the case, we note it. The zone file syntax of the less commonly used records is discussed.

The final section of the appendix covers the syntax of the optional boot file. This file can be used when transitioning a server from a Unix system running BIND 4 to a Windows Server 2003 system. The boot file has nothing to do with DNS resource records. However, it needs to be covered somewhere, so it has been added to this appendix.

Basic Resource Records

Standard resource records define the domain data contained in the zone file. The format of standard resource records, sometimes called RRs, is defined in RFC 1033, the Domain Administrators Operations Guide. The format is:

[name] [ttl] IN type data

The individual ...