[Gllug] DNS glue records

[Henry Kemp]

Glue records are usually inserted in the TLD (eg dot com) by your domain
registrar and from my experience registrars (Nominet and Network
Solutions) add glue records on your behalf when you configure nameserver
whose A record is within that zone to a domain's nameserver records. The
registrars should have automated systems to check, insert and generally
manage these records (for example they won't let you enter a record for
a nameserver this outside the relevant zone - eg. if ns.a.com is
referred to in b.com then its bad practice to add a glue record to the
.com TLD and I've also seen Nominet not adding glue records because one
of the nameservers was from another zone).

When you manage your own zone files you can get into circular
conversations with some registrars because the front line support staff
often don't understand what glue records are - I find that after
escalating a couple of times you usually get to the right level of
expertise. Or just work with a registrar who understands glue records!

If you want to work out what the glue records are then use a site like
dnsstuff.com or work down from the root name servers (example for
google.com).

    # dig @g.gtld-servers.net. NS google.com +short
    ns1.google.com.
    ns2.google.com.
    ns3.google.com.
    ns4.google.com.
    # dig @g.gtld-servers.net. ns1.google.com +short
    216.239.32.10

The key in this stage is querying the nameservers that are authoritative
for the .com TLD for the ns1.google.com address. Now these entries are
'owned' by the registrar that inserted them so if you change registrar
then want to change nameserver configuration and the glue record hasn't
been transferred you need to get the record transferred to your new
registrar. If you want to know who is responsible for this glue record
then try the following:

 # whois 'host ns.kew.org'
 [Querying whois.publicinterestregistry.net]
 [whois.publicinterestregistry.net]

 Host ID:H55444792-LROR
 Host Name:NS.KEW.ORG
 Sponsoring Registrar:Network Solutions LLC (R63-LROR)
 Created On:09-Aug-2007 16:58:14 UTC
 Last Updated On:06-Sep-2007 14:08:42 UTC
 IP Address:193.128.243.243

Rgds,

Henry

- Tethys wrote:
> To avoid circular dependencies, DNS uses glue records, so that I can
> have my nameservers under my domain without problems. That's fine. But
> does anyone know the process by which the glue records are created?
> Who do I need to contact to tell them that I need a glue record for my
> nameservers? Is it something I can do myself? The immediate need is
> for a .com domain (although I'm looking to later do the same with my
> .co.uk domains, too).
>
> TIA,
>
> Tet
>
>   

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