Bug 455162 - bind-zone-examples: FTP is using A records, not CNAME (change description)
Summary: bind-zone-examples: FTP is using A records, not CNAME (change description)
Keywords:
Status: CLOSED CURRENTRELEASE
Alias: None
Product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5
Classification: Red Hat
Component: doc-Deployment_Guide
Version: 5.2
Hardware: All
OS: Linux
medium
medium
Target Milestone: rc
: ---
Assignee: Douglas Silas
QA Contact: ecs-bugs
URL: http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/en...
Whiteboard:
Depends On:
Blocks:
TreeView+ depends on / blocked
 
Reported: 2008-07-13 09:53 UTC by Murray McAllister
Modified: 2016-06-17 21:12 UTC (History)
2 users (show)

Fixed In Version:
Doc Type: Bug Fix
Doc Text:
Clone Of:
Environment:
Last Closed: 2010-08-10 16:36:13 UTC
Target Upstream Version:
Embargoed:


Attachments (Terms of Use)
New example zone file (898 bytes, text/plain)
2009-09-15 09:15 UTC, Adam Tkac
no flags Details

Description Murray McAllister 2008-07-13 09:53:44 UTC
Description of problem:

http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/enterprise/RHEL-5-manual/en-US/RHEL510/Deployment_Guide/s2-bind-zone-examples.html

* Change the configuration file so that it _does_ _not_ use CNAMEs for mail.
Mail should always use A records, otherwise you risk records being lost.

* "FTP and Web services, available at the standard ftp.example.com and
www.example.com names, are pointed at the appropriate servers using CNAME records." 

From the configuration file, FTP is using A records, not CNAME. Description
needs to be changed.

Thanks,

Murray.

Comment 1 Douglas Silas 2009-09-10 21:36:03 UTC
The 5.4 online Dep Guide shows the configuration file properly:

http://www.redhat.com/docs/en-US/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux/5.4/html/Deployment_Guide/s2-bind-zone-examples.html

If I understand, the config file should be changed to read:

[SNIP]
mail		IN	A	server1
mail2		IN	A	server2
[/SNIP]

And secondly, the description should be revised to something like:

"Web services, available at the standard www.example.com name, is pointed at the appropriate server using a CNAME record."

I have only omitted the bits about FTP from that sentence. I am requesting NEEDINFO from Adam Tkac, who may be able to verify these changes/approve them.

Comment 3 Adam Tkac 2009-09-14 09:25:45 UTC
(In reply to comment #1)
> The 5.4 online Dep Guide shows the configuration file properly:
> 
> http://www.redhat.com/docs/en-US/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux/5.4/html/Deployment_Guide/s2-bind-zone-examples.html
> 
> If I understand, the config file should be changed to read:
> 
> [SNIP]
> mail  IN A server1
> mail2  IN A server2
> [/SNIP]

Absolutely right. CNAME is not allowed for MX records.

> And secondly, the description should be revised to something like:
> 
> "Web services, available at the standard www.example.com name, is pointed at
> the appropriate server using a CNAME record."
>
> I have only omitted the bits about FTP from that sentence. I am requesting
> NEEDINFO from Adam Tkac, who may be able to verify these changes/approve them.  

Yes, your comment makes sence. I recommend to extend it to "standard services" instead of "web services":

"Services available at the standard names, like www.example.com (www) and ftp.example.com (FTP), are pointed at the appropriate servers using a CNAME record."

Comment 4 Douglas Silas 2009-09-14 18:22:12 UTC
With the fix to mail and mail2, that section of the zone configuration file now reads:

[SNIP]
ftp		IN	A	10.0.1.3
		IN	A	10.0.1.4
;
mail		IN	A	server1
mail2		IN	A	server2
;
;
www		IN	CNAME	server1
[/SNIP]

...and...

[SNIP]
Services available at the standard names, such as www.example.com (WWW), are pointed at the appropriate servers using a CNAME record.
[/SNIP]

I still have some questions about this:

1) "ftp" exists only on one line: should these be listed as "ftp1" and "ftp2", or is omitting "ftp" on the second line allowed in the configuration file?

2) FTP is not pointing at the appropriate server using a CNAME record: it is using an "A" record in the config file, which is why I changed the second sentence to omit mention of FTP from it. I think that either:
     a) the record for ftp should also be changed to CNAME in the config file to correspond with Adam's comment, or
     b) it is correct now, and mention of the FTP service should be omitted from the "Services are available..." sentence.

Clarifications are welcome.

Thanks,

Silas

Comment 5 Adam Tkac 2009-09-15 08:52:33 UTC
(In reply to comment #4)
> With the fix to mail and mail2, that section of the zone configuration file now
> reads:
> 
> [SNIP]
> ftp  IN A 10.0.1.3
>   IN A 10.0.1.4
> ;
> mail  IN A server1
> mail2  IN A server2

Looks fine now.

> ;
> ;
> www  IN CNAME server1
> [/SNIP]
> 
> ...and...
> 
> [SNIP]
> Services available at the standard names, such as www.example.com (WWW), are
> pointed at the appropriate servers using a CNAME record.
> [/SNIP]
> 
> I still have some questions about this:
> 
> 1) "ftp" exists only on one line: should these be listed as "ftp1" and "ftp2",
> or is omitting "ftp" on the second line allowed in the configuration file?

When you omit a name then name is same as the previous specified name thus
ftp  IN A 10.0.1.3
     IN A 10.0.1.4
is same as
ftp  IN A 10.0.1.3
ftp  IN A 10.0.1.4

> 2) FTP is not pointing at the appropriate server using a CNAME record: it is
> using an "A" record in the config file, which is why I changed the second
> sentence to omit mention of FTP from it. I think that either:
>      a) the record for ftp should also be changed to CNAME in the config file
> to correspond with Adam's comment, or
>      b) it is correct now, and mention of the FTP service should be omitted
> from the "Services are available..." sentence.
> 
> Clarifications are welcome.

To be precise, situation is quite difficult here. Main problem is that multiple CNAMEs for one name are not allowed thus you can't use something like

ftp IN CNAME server1
ftp IN CNAME server2

I propose this:

"If multiple services (www, ftp) share one IP address then you can use"

services IN A 1.1.1.1
         IN A 1.2.3.4
         IN AAAA 1111:1111::1111

ftp IN CNAME services
www IN CNAME services

"If each service has his own IP address you can use"

ftp IN A 1.1.1.1
    IN AAAA 1111:1111::1111

www IN A 2.2.2.2
    IN AAAA 2222:2222::2222

I will attach improved example configuration file.

Comment 6 Adam Tkac 2009-09-15 09:15:44 UTC
Created attachment 361052 [details]
New example zone file

Quick note about zone description (currently on http://www.redhat.com/docs/en-US/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux/5.4/html/Deployment_Guide/s2-bind-zone-examples.html)

- '@' is expanded to zone origin, currently "example.com"
- if name is omitted then the previous specified name is used

Comment 7 Douglas Silas 2009-09-30 15:10:53 UTC
Final example zone file produced, and text reviewed, by Adam Tkac. Commited, 5.4, -r 22503.


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