"-" and "_" in domain name

[David Botham]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: bind-users-bounce at isc.org [mailto:bind-users-bounce at isc.org] On
> Behalf Of Jerry Kemp
> Sent: Friday, February 14, 2003 9:38 AM
> To: comp-protocols-dns-bind at isc.org
> Subject: Re: "-" and "_" in domain name
> 
> It is my understanding that rfc952 is still valid and that underscores
> ("_") are illegal characters for host names.  Its been a while since I
> have worked with any of the legacy ms stuff but I don't believe that
ms
> is stuffing underscores ("_") in hostnames, it is my understanding
that
> they are using them in domain names, which is ok.

If we define "host" as the left most label, then, yes, MS is using
underscores in host names.  However, if we define "host" as a name used
to refer to a host, then, no, MS is not using underscores in host names.
I believe that MS is using the underscore in domain names that mark
unique positions in the domain name space to hold RR sets for a
particular purpose, however, these domain names are not actual computers
on the network...


Thanks,

Dave...

> 
> Can someone correct me if this is incorrect.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Jerry K
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On Friday, February 14, 2003, at 07:18  AM, Joseph S D Yao wrote:
> 
> > Bottom line:
> >
> > DNS, per all the RFCs, allows any character.
> >
> > BIND used to disallow some characters, but now allows all
characters,
> > IIRC.
> >
> > The "-" character is always acceptable in host names and other
domain
> > names.
> >
> > The "_" character may not be used in host names, and I believe is
> > therefore deprecated - at least by some - in "real" domain names.
> > Microsoft, of course, decided to use them in some of its proprietary
> > stuff.  I guess that's redundant.