What is an AA record?

[Roy Arends]

On Mon, 26 Mar 2001, Bill Manning wrote:

> % I've tried to find the answer to this in various FAQs but have been 
> % unsuccessful. What is an AA record?

> YeaHa!  a soapbox!.... :)
> 
> half of a AAAA record. The AAAA record is for mapping IPv6 addresses to 
> lables.  There is an alternative, the A6 record.  Within the IETF, there is
> a small debate ongoing as to which RR to kill off. Reasonable arguments for
> killing either exist. Some people are zelots for their particular view.
> One could construct a view that the A6 record facilitates renumbering but 
> the DNS operational cost is high. (composite record synthesis is non-trival)
> And there is scant support in the installed base for A6.
> One could also construct the view that since AAAA support has been in BIND
> since 4.9.6, and renumbering is an increasingly rare event (buying into the
> NAT universe, even with IPv6) that we don't need to accept the operational
> headache of A6 and the incumbent upgrade of most of the resolvers on the
> planet.
> 
> Its a tough call.  I think I'm leaning toward the increased complexity of
> A6. 

I thought the address space with IPv6 was large enough so that NOBODY EVER
HAS TO RENUMBER. Damn, my A6 allergie is back again. Talking 'bout a red
flag on a mad bull. 

A6 is evil, I prefer AAAA. 

Roy Arends
Nominum