What does it mean to be authoritative?

[Len Conrad]

>O.K. Thanks.  I am still a bit confused about the db file and how authority
>is delegated.
>
>You have indicated authority is delegated to a nameserver which is listed in
>the NS record of a db file that is associated with a domain name and found
>in the root-servers.net.
>
>I have read that the SOA indicates authority for zone data and that the NS
>record lists a name server for the zone.

The SOA record contains a hostname which is the "best source" 
nameserver for zone data.

yes, it's customary, even obligatory, that the hostname/NS in SOA 
record also be listed in zone's NS records, since the SOA NS is 
recognized as "the best source of information for the data within 
this zone" (cricket book).  That's the story for and within a given 
zone, private or public zone and DNS.

Additionally, for public DNS's and domains, all the NS records in the 
zone file must be exactly listed in NS "glue records" in the 
root-servers of the domain's TLD, otherwise the delegation of 
authority for the forward zone is "lame".  These "delegation data" NS 
records are the source of authority for the zone data records.

The authority for the reverse zone flows not from the root-servers, 
but from the ip authorities for the ip address assignments, ARIN, RIPE, etc.

Len


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