root hints

[Joseph S D Yao]

On Fri, Jan 28, 2011 at 09:51:13PM -0500, Joseph S D Yao wrote:
> On Fri, Jan 28, 2011 at 08:10:10PM +0000, Jack Tavares wrote:
> > I have a question about the hints file.
> > 
> > It is "built in" to BIND.
> > 
> > Does bind check for updates to this periodically?
...
> To the best of my knowledge, NO.


To clarify:

The distinguished gentleman from RIPE is also correct.  Once BIND
starts, IF any of the built-in root name servers is correct [very likely
on the public Internet, unlikely on any other internet], it will get the
complete current list, as this should be identical on all root name
servers.

But the answer to your original question remains, "no" - it does not
do a file transfer to download any file to keep its boot-time root hints
list persistently "current".

[This does leave a security hole - if a root name server's IP changes,
and a Bad Guy gets the old one; or on another internet, if the Bad Guy
gets all the IP addresses in the default file.  It's not just lust for
control that has me using a visible root hints file.]


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** Joe Yao				jsdy at tux.org - Joseph S. D. Yao
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