stub resolver timeout

[Ralf Hildebrandt]

On Mon, Dec 13, 1999 at 11:22:14AM -0500, j j wrote:

> If my DNS client have 2 name server's in its resolv.conf file and the first
> server returned a SERVFAIL to a query, would it try the second name server
> in its resolv.conf for the same query or would it forward the SERVFAIL
> responds back to the application ...

The second one is queried. Question: Would it make sense to specify two
servers if only one would be queried? Why specifiy the second at all?

> If I have 2 name servers list in my clients resolv.conf file, what is the
> timeout algorithm used by the client.  And should I expect the same behavior
> for DNS clients from HP, SUN, Linux, MS and ...

If I rember right:

try 1st with short time out
try 2nd with short time out
try 1st with long time out
try 2nd with long time out

The behaviour depends on the resolver used! I know HP, their resolver is
OOOOOOLD -- 4.9.3 based or something. Linux surely uses a recent 8.x resolver.
M$ ? 

-- 
Ralf Hildebrandt <R.Hildebrandt at tu-bs.de> www.stahl.bau.tu-bs.de/~hildeb
"Those who do not understand UNIX are condemned to reinvent it -- badly."
                                                         -- Henry Spencer