question about resolution

[Kevin Darcy]

Chris wrote:

>Hi,
>
>Suppose the DNS-server of domain mydomain.xy and it receives a request for
>example www.skynet.be.
>
It doesn't matter whether it's the "DNS-server of domain mydomain.xy" or 
not: the authoritative-nameserver and iterative-resolver roles are 
logically distinct. In fact, many authoritative nameservers don't do any 
iterative resolution at all (and this is actually the recommended way to 
run authoritative nameservers).

>What will it do to resolve that address, or with other words, how can that
>DNS-server know the IP of the Toplevelservers (like .us, .com, .be ..)?
>
Typically, an iterative resolver is configured with a "hints" file that 
it consults on startup in order to fetch the root-nameserver 
information. Once it has the root-nameserver information, it can resolve 
anything else in the namespace by working down the delegation tree.

                                                                         
                                                         - Kevin