Y2K and SOA record serial numbers?

[Joseph S D Yao]

> According to the docs (this is Bind 8.1.2 we're using), the serial
> number in the SOA is an integer from 0 to 4,294,967,295. Currently, the
> serial number for our domain is 99090201 (2 digit year to start) and
> we've obviously got to start worrying about the year 2000 pretty quick
> here!
> 
> Now, since the serial can go to 4,294,967,295 (accoring to DNS and BIND,
> 3rd ed.), if we go to a 10 digit serial (rather than the 8 we are using
> now), we should simply be able to prepend the first two digits of the
> year to our serial.
> 
> For example, I would like to change our serial from:
> 
> 99090201
> 
> to:
> 
> 1999090201
> 
> (and that should work just fine until the year 4294, it seems to me).
> 
> The assumption I've made, and have been unable to verify, is this:
> 
> Does BIND 8.1.2 assume anything about an 8 digit serial number? In other
> words, is 1999090201 really greater than 99090201 according to BIND? Or
> is it doing something silly like padding the end with zeroes (although
> this doesn't seem possible, as 9909020100 would be greater than the
> allowable serial number).
> 
> I just wanted to verify that this migration is what we should be doing
> (i.e. prepending the "19" and then "20" to the start of the serial to
> provide 4-digit years, without mucking with setting it to 0 to get the
> secondary servers to reset).
> 
> I'm 99% sure this is right, but wanted to check with y'all...

What you are suggesting is actually what has been recommended time and
time again.  You may be 100% sure.  It works.

> @		IN SOA	ns.osis.gov. hostmaster.cospo.osis.gov. (
> 			1999052501	; serial

< flame on >

The whole Y2K problem is a violation of Joe's First Rule of Software
Engineering: "Say What You Mean."  Obviously, you did NOT first write
that zone in the year 0099.

< /flame >

--
Joe Yao				jsdy at cospo.osis.gov - Joseph S. D. Yao
COSPO/OSIS Computer Support					EMT-B
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