zone base ORIGIN

[Mark.Andrews at nominum.com]

	Most people don't need use a $ORIGIN at all.  99% of zones
	only have single label hostnames in them.

	Only about 1% of zones delegate sub zones and in those
	cases where there are glue records required they are written
	as relative or absolute names.

	Dropping the class and using two or three tab stops for
	the type generally leaves enough space that a master file
	is readable without $ORIGIN.  I also usually to fully qualify
	the RHS.

@		SOA 	...
		NS	...
		NS	...
;
foo		NS	ns1.foo
		NS	...
ns1.foo		A	...
;
bar		NS	ns1.bar
		NS	...
ns1.bar		A	...

	Mark

P.S.	Setting $ORIGIN does not change the current owner.  Your examples
	below would not give you the results you were expecting.  You would
	need to add some "@"s on the records after the $ORIGIN directives.
	
> 
> As long as I'm proposing extensions,>)
> I'm surprised that there's not a symbol to get back to the base origin
> of the zone, like, say, "%" or "^".
> 
> In my limited DNS experience, I think that it's useful, from a self-
> documenting perspective, to use syntax like the following when
> delegating:
> 
> $ORIGIN  foo.new.com.
>     IN NS  ns1
>     IN NS  ....
> ns1 IN A ....
> $ORIGIN  bar.new.com.
>     IN NS  ns1
>     IN NS  ....
> ns1 IN A ....
> 
> The $ORIGIN stands out nicely.
> The problem that I have with this is that you have to use absolute
> $ORIGIN names, because the first origin would be in effect when you
> get to the second $ORIGIN.
> 
> I prefer to keep things relative, so that it would be easy to change the
> name of the parent zone, for example, and it's just a quirk that I've
> developed over the years from programming and other endeavors.
> 
> Thus, I would like to be able to do something like the following:
> 
> $ORIGIN  foo.%
>     IN NS  ns1
>     IN NS  ....
> ns1 IN A ....
> $ORIGIN  bar.%
>     IN NS  ns1
>     IN NS  ....
> ns1 IN A ....
> 
> where "%" would be the zone base from the "master" statement.
> 
> One current way would be:
> 
> foo IN NS  ns1
>     IN NS  ....
> ns1.foo IN A ....
> bar IN NS  ns1
>     IN NS  ....
> ns1.bar IN A ....
> 
> But notice that it is not nearly as clear as a nice $ORIGIN poking you
> in the eye (of course, you could use "; $ORIGIN" , I suppose, or any
> other comment).
> Also, you lose a little elegance and mobility by having to mention
> "bar" and "foo" twice.
> 
> 
> I suppose another way would be to use $INCLUDE files:
> 
> $INCLUDE ...  foo
> $INCLUDE ...  bar
> 
> which has good points.
> 
> I'm wondering how other people do this.
> Or do you just use FQDNs everywhere?
> 
> 
> -------------------------------------------------
> Tks        | <mailto:Bob_Vance at sbm.com>
> BV         | <mailto:bobvance at alumni.caltech.edu>
> Sr. Technical Consultant,  SBM, A Gates/Arrow Co.
> Vox 770-623-3430           11455 Lakefield Dr.
> Fax 770-623-3429           Duluth, GA 30097-1511
> =================================================
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
--
Mark Andrews, Nominum Inc.
1 Seymour St., Dundas Valley, NSW 2117, Australia
PHONE: +61 2 9871 4742                 INTERNET: Mark.Andrews at nominum.com