Whence loopback A-RR's in zonefiles?

[Barry Margolin]

In article <a6bivl$ekl at pub3.rc.vix.com>,
Rick Crelia  <rcrelia at cobaltgroup.com> wrote:
>What is the technical reason behind having to include loopback entries
>in BIND zonefiles?
>
>i.e.,
>
>  localhost.my.domain.	IN 	A	127.0.0.1
>
>Just curious....a coworker and I were trying to figure it out. I
>found a reference in the comp.protocols.tcp-ip.domains FAQ (see
>below). 

So that users can use the name "localhost" to refer to the loopback
address, instead of having to refer to it numerically.  I.e. the same
reason you put *any* name in the zonefile.  "localhost" happens to be a
very common conventional name for this address, just as www.<domain> is a
very common name for your web server.

-- 
Barry Margolin, barmar at genuity.net
Genuity, Woburn, MA
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