Difference between secondary and slave dns servers

[Kevin Darcy]

smallpond wrote:
> Kevin Darcy wrote:
>   
>> smallpond wrote:
>>     
>>> voipfc wrote:
>>>
>>>       
>>>> What is the difference between secondary and slave dns servers?
>>>>
>>>> Are they synonyms or are there some subtle diffference between them?
>>>>
>>>>         
>>> 1.4.4.2. Slave Servers
>>> The other authoritative servers, the slave servers (also known as
>>> secondary servers) ...
>>>
>>> from the bind documentation.
>>>
>>>       
>> Yeah, they're pretty much synonymous. If there's any subtle difference
>> between the two, it's that "slave" is more often seen in a _relational_
>> context, i.e. one half of the "master/slave" relationship, whereas
>> "secondary" is more often used when describing a whole infrastructure
>> (although I have occasionally see the term "primary" being used as a
>> synonym for "master").
>>
>> Let's not forget, also, that a "slave" server can also serve as a
>> "master" to other, downstream slaves, in a "multi-hop" architecture. So
>> the use of the term "secondary" gets a little confusing at that point.
>> What do we call the downstream slaves? "Tertiaries"? And the slaves
>> downstream from those? Calling them all just "slaves" simplifies things.
>>
>> - Kevin
>>     
>
> I had forgotten about one other important distinction, mentioned here:
>
> http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/outrage/master.asp
>
> It seems that if you want to do business in California, you are better
> off with primary/secondary.
>   
Yeah, except that "primary" has political connotations, and "secondary" 
sounds a lot like "secretary" which of course is a politically-incorrect 
term (should be Administrative Assistant of course).

Where will the madness end?

- Kevin