Internet Engineering

DHCP, DNS

Introduction

Client administration:

IP address management:

They need to ease the process of joining the network and they
do not want users to do any special configuration (DHCP)
They want to network boot their workstations

Solution: Deploy a DHCP server

Machine names management:

i.e. Diskless workstations or remote OS installation (acquiring the

network setting during boot process)

They need to be able to name machines and access them by

names instead of IP addresses
Solution: Deploy A DNS server

So we discuss on DHCP and DNS in this session

DHCP

Provides configuration parameters specific to the DHCP client host

requesting, information required by the client host to participate on
an IP network
Method of IP allocation
Manual

Automatic

Only requesting clients with a MAC address listed in the table (MACIP pairs) get the IP address according to the table
DHCP server permanently assigns to a requesting client a free IPaddress from a range given by the administrator

Dynamic

The only method which provides dynamic re-use of IP addresses

The request-and-grant process uses a lease concept with a
controllable time period.

DHCP cont.

DHCP server can provide optional configuration

e.g. Subnet Mask, Router, Name Server,
RFC 2132 defines DHCP options Usage
DHCP relay agent (mostly in network routers/high-end switches)
Relays DHCP Discover broadcasts from a LAN without DHCP to
a network which has one
Usage
US

UK

Cable Internet providers use DHCP

DSL providers prefer PPPoE
Many broadband ISP networks use DHCP
XDSL providers use infinite lease Semi-static IPs

Office networks, public internet access

Places where there are mobile nodes that want to access the net

DHCP Implementations

Microsoft introduced DHCP on their NT server with Windows NT 3.5

in late 1994
DHCP did not originate from Microsoft
Internet Software Consortium published DHCP for Unix variants
Version 1.0.0 released on December 6, 1997
Version 2.0 on June, 1999 A more RFC-compliant one
Novell included a DHCP server in NetWare OS since v. 5, 1999
It integrates with Novell eDirectory
Weird solutions introducing a variety of multiplatform DHCP
implementations since 1997
Cisco since Cisco IOS 12.0 in February 1999
Sun added DHCP support in Solaris 8, July 2001

DHCP Anatomy

Uses the same IANA assigned ports as BOOTP

67/udp for the server, 68/udp for the client
DHCP Messages
Discover

Client broadcasts on the local physical subnet to find servers

UDP packet (broadcast dest. 255.255.255.255)

Offer

Server determines the configuration based on the clients MAC addr.

Server specifies the IP address and put optional parameters

Request

Also request last-known IP address (optional parameter)

Client selects a configuration out the DHCP Offer packet and

broadcasts it again

Acknowledge

Server acknowledges the request and sends the ack to the client

DHCP Anatomy cont.

Inform

Client requests more information than the server sent with the
DHCPACK, or to repeat data for a particular application (e.g.
to obtain web proxy settings by a browser)

Release

Client requests the server to release the DHCP and the client
unconfigures its IP address
Sending this message is not mandatory (unplug or )

BOOTP

BOOTstrap Protocol (RFC 951)

UDP
Used to obtain IP address automatically

Usually in booting process of computers or OSs

Historically used for UNIX-like diskless workstations

Diskless workstations

Also obtains the locations of the boot image

Also can be used for installing a pre-configured OS

Protocol became embedded in the BIOS of some NICs

Allowing direct network booting without need for a floppy

BOOTP cont.

Recently used for booting a Windows OS in diskless

standalone media center PCs
DHCP is a more advanced protocol base on BOOTP

Far more complex to implement than BOOTP

Most DHCP servers also offer BOOTP support
Duration based leases is the fundamental addition in DHCP

Dynamic in DHCP is for this

RARP

ARP
Address Resolution Protocol
Resolve a hardware address from a given IP address
Try arp command in both Windows and Linux
RARP
Reverse Address Resolution Protocol (RFC 903)
Complement of ARP
Resolve an IP address from a given hardware address
Needs manual configuration on a central server

Not scalable

Obsoleted by BOOTP and the more modern DHCP

Try rarp command in Linux (if supported by Kernel), and RARP
daemon - RARPd

DNS

Domain Name System (RFC 1034, 1035)

A system that stores info associated with domain names

in a distributed database on networks (such as Internet)
Many types of information for the domain provided by
DNS

RFC 1034 and 1035 made RFC 882, 883 obsolete

Most important, IP address associated with domain name

Mail eXchange servers accepting e-mail for each domain

Mainly UDP

TCP only when response data size exceeds 512 bytes or

for things like zone transfer

DNS is Decentralized

No single point of failure

Less traffic volume
Easier maintenance
Scalable
Less distant (delay) issues
Delegation

Resolvers

Clients that access name servers

Querying a name server

Interpreting responses
Returning the information to the programs that requested it

In BIND, the resolver is just a set of library routines that

is linked into programs

Not even a separate process

Most of the burden of finding an answer to the query is
placed on the name server
The DNS specs call this kind of resolver a stub resolver

Types of DNS Servers

Primary master
Reads the data for the zone from a file on its host
Secondary master (Slave)
Gets the zone data from another ns that is authoritative for the
zone (master server)
Often, master server is the zones primary master

Zone transfer

Contacting master ns and if necessary pulling the zone data

Redundancy
An authoritative ns may be master for some of its zones and be slave
for some others
Its imprecise to call an ns, master or slave!

Not always the case

Secondary master may get the info from another secondary server

DNS Applications

Attach IP addresses to domain names (ease of use)

Many to many mapping

Virtual Hosting

Sender Policy Framework

Makes it possible for people to assign authoritative
names, without needing to communicate with a central
registrar
Load balancing between hosts

DNS History

Idea in ARPAnet
Originally, each computer retrieved a file called
HOSTS.TXT from SRI which contained the mappings

Hosts file exists today (Looked up before querying DNS)

Limitations

/etc/hosts, C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc\hosts
Not scalable
Each time a given computers address changed, all computers
should update their Hosts file

DNS invented by Paul Mockapetris in 1983

First implementation was called JEEVES by himself

Parts of a Domain Name

Domain name consists of two or more parts separated

by dots (here ce.sharif.edu for example)

Rightmost label: Top-level domain (edu)

Each label to the left specifies a subdomain of the domain
above it.

Relative dependence, not absolute dependence

sharif is a subdomain of the edu domain
ce is a subdomain of the sharif.edu domain
Theoretical limits: 127 level, each level 63 chars, total domain
name 255 chars

A domain name with one or more IP addresses is called a

hostname (sharif.edu, ce.sharif.edu but not edu)

A Distributed Hierarchical
Database

Root Servers (13 root

servers worldwide)
TLD Servers (.com, .org,
.net, .uk, .ir, )
Authoritative DNS Servers
(organizations DNS server)

Local DNS Server

Does not belong to hierarchy

Also called default name server
Acts as a proxy (forwarder), forwards query into
hierarchy

Caches the results if of interest

DNS Queries

Recursive

Contacted name server should recurs and find the mapping

for the requesting host
Heavy load on the servers

Iterative

Contacted server replies with the name of the server to

contact
An ns provides the name of the next ns

Bootstrapping problem (another query is required and )

So the IP of the next ns is provided

Glue record

DNS Queries

Recursive query example

DNS Queries

DNS in the real world

DNS Caching and Updating

Records

Once a name server learns mapping, it caches it

Itll expire (TTL defined by the authoritative server)
TLD servers typically cached in local name server

Root name servers not often visited

Update/Notify Mechanisms
RFC 2136
TTL is specified in the Start Of Authority (SOA) record
Serial Incremented when the zone file modified, others know
when the zone has been changed and should be reloaded
Refresh Number of seconds between update requests
Retry Number of seconds between retries (if a request failed)
Expire Number of seconds before considering the data stale
Minimum Used for minimum TTL, used for negative caching

DNS Records

Resource Records

Tuples which are stored in the distributed database

(name, value, type, ttl)

Types

There are many types, most famous ones (IPv4 mostly)

A: Maps a hostname to an IPv4 address

NS: Maps a domain name to a list of authoritative DNS servers
CNAME: Makes one domain name an alias of another
MX: Maps a domain name to a list of mail exchange servers
PTR: Maps an IPv4 address to canonical name for that host
SOA: Specifies the authoritative DNS server

Info like email of the domain administrator, serial number,

Advanced Features of DNS

Servers

Address Match Lists and Address Control Lists

i.e. defining a network and referring to it with the name we

defined. e.g.

DNS Notify

acl ce {
{ 81.31.164.0/24; 81.13.179.0/24; };
};

Notify the listed servers on zone change

DNS Dynamic Update

This permits authorized updaters to add and delete

resource records from a zone for which the server is
authoritative
Used in DNS, DHCP servers integration

Legal Users of Domains

Registrant
Administrative contact
Technical contact
Billing contact
Name servers
Try whois in Linux and see these information for different
hosts

DNS - BIND

BIND (Berkeley Internet Name Domain) written for

Berkeleys 4.3BSD UNIX OS by Kevin Dunlap

It is not maintained by Internet Software Consortium

The most popular implementation of DNS today

Ported to many flavors of UNIX

Shipped as a standard part of most vendors UNIX offerings

Has even been ported to Microsoft Windows

References

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_Name_System

Computer Networking: A Top Down Approach Featuring

the Internet, 3rd edition, Jim Kurose, Keith Ross,
Addison-Wesley, July 2004
DNS and BIND, 3rd edition, Cricket Liu, Paul Albitz,
OReilly, September 1998
BIND9 Administrator Reference Manual