DNSIND Working Group Matt Crawford
Internet Draft Fermilab
February 19, 1998
Binary Labels in the Domain Name System
<draft-ietf-dnsind-binary-labels-00.txt>
Status of this Memo
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1. Introduction and Terminology
This document defines a ''Bit-String Label'' which may appear within
domain names. This new label type compactly represents a sequence
of ''One-Bit Labels'' and enables resource records to be stored at any
bit-boundary in a binary-named section of the domain name tree.
The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
"SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
document are to be interpreted as described in [KWORD].
2. Motivation
Binary labels are intended to efficiently solve the problem of
storing data and delegating authority on arbitrary boundaries when
the structure of underlying name space is most naturally represented
in binary. A new catch-all Additional Section processing rule
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provides a form of longest-match lookup which is useful when the
name space is like Internet addresses.
3. Label Format
Up to 256 One-Bit Labels can be grouped into a single Bit-String
Label. Within a Bit-String Label the most significant or "highest
level" bit appears first. This is unlike the ordering of DNS labels
themselves, which has the least significant or "lowest level" label
first. Nonetheless, this ordering seems to be the most natural and
efficient for representing binary labels.
Among consecutive Bit-String Labels, the bits in the first-appearing
label are less significant or "at a lower level" than the bits in
subsequent Bit-String Labels, just as ASCII labels are ordered.
3.1. Encoding
0 1 2
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 . . .
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-//+-+-+-+-+-+-+
|0 1| ELC | Count | Label ... |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+//-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
(Each tic mark represents one bit.)
ELC The six-bit Extended Label Code assigned to the Bit-String
Label. [TBA. 0?]
Count The number of significant bits in the Label field. A
Count value of zero indicates that 256 bits are
significant. (Thus the null label representing the DNS
root cannot be represented as a Bit String Label.)
Label The bit string representing a sequence of One-Bit Labels,
with the most significant bit first. That is, the One-Bit
Label in position 17 in the diagram above represents a
subdomain of the domain represented by the One-Bit Label
in position 16, and so on.
The Label field is padded on the right with zero to seven
pad bits to make the entire field occupy an integral
number of octets. These pad bits MUST be zero on
transmission and ignored on reception.
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A sequence of bits may be split into two or more Bit-String Labels,
but the division points have no significance and need not be
preserved. An excessively clever server implementation might split
Bit-String Labels so as to maximize the effectiveness of message
compression [DNSIS]. A simpler server might divide Bit-String
Labels at zone boundaries, if any zone boundaries happen to fall
between One-Bit Labels.
3.2. Textual Representation
A Bit-String Label is represented in text -- in a zone file, for
example -- as a <bit-spec> surrounded by the delimiters "\[" and
"]". The <bit-spec> is either a dotted quad or a base indicator and
a sequence of digits appropriate to that base, optionally followed
by a slash and a length. The base indicators are "b", "o" and "x",
denoting base 2, 8 and 16 respectively. The length counts the
significant bits and MUST be between 1 and 32, inclusive, after a
dotted quad, or between 1 and 256, inclusive, after one of the other
forms. If the length is omitted, the implicit length is 32 for a
dotted quad or 1, 3 or 4 times the number of binary, octal or
hexadecimal digits supplied, respectively, for the other forms.
In ABNF [ABNF],
bit-string-label = "\[" bit-spec "]"
bit-spec = bit-data [ "/" length ]
/ dotted-quad [ "/" slength ]
bit-data = "x" 1*64HEXDIG
/ "o" 1*86OCTDIG
/ "b" 1*256BIT
dotted-quad = decbyte "." decbyte "." decbyte "." decbyte
decbyte = NZDIGIT *2DIGIT
length = NZDIGIT *2DIGIT
slength = NZDIGIT [ DIGIT ]
OCTDIG = %x30-37
NZDIGIT = %x31-39
If a <length> is present, the number of digits in the <bit-data>
MUST be just sufficient to contain the number of bits specified by
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the <length>. If there are insignificant bits in a final
hexadecimal or octal digit, they MUST be zero. A <dotted-quad>
always has all four parts even if the associated <slength> is less
than 24, but, like the other forms, insignificant bits MUST be zero.
Each number represented by a <decbyte> must be between 0 and 255,
inclusive.
The number represented by <length> must be between 1 and 256
inclusive.
The number represented by <slength> must be between 1 and 32
inclusive.
When the textual form of a Bit-String Label is generated by machine,
the length SHOULD be explicit, not implicit.
3.2.1. Examples
The following four textual forms represent the same Bit-String
Label.
\[b11010000011101]
\[o64072/14]
\[xd074/14]
\[208.116.0.0/14]
The following represents two consecutive Bit-String Labels which
denote the same relative place in the DNS tree as any of the above
single Bit-String Labels.
\[b11101/5].\[o640]
4. Processing Rules
A One-Bit Label never matches any other kind of label. In
particular, the DNS labels represented by the single ASCII
characters "0" and "1" do not match One-Bit Labels represented by
the bit values 0 and 1.
When an authoritative server processes a query which includes a
Bit-String Label in the QNAME, a special "longest-match" processing
rule is invoked in two cases. The following definition will be
helpful in explaining the longest-match rule.
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A "binary ancestor" of a given domain name "D" is another domain
name "A" which is a suffix of D obtainable by removing one or more
least-significant One-Bit Labels from D. Among several binary
ancestors of D which satisfy a certain condition, the "nearest
binary ancestor" is that binary ancestor which is obtained by
removing the fewest One-Bit Labels from D.
As an example, the domain name
\[b1011].foo.\[b0011].example
Has exactly four binary ancestors, which are, from nearest to
farthest,
\[b101].foo.\[b0011].example
\[b10].foo.\[b0011].example
\[b1].foo.\[b0011].example
foo.\[b0011].example
The first case in which the longest-match rule MUST be invoked is
when a match to the QNAME becomes impossible at a certain One-Bit
Label (that is, the algorithm of RFC1034's section 4.3.2 reaches
step 3.c. [DNSCF]), and the "*" label does not exist at that point.
Let Q1 be the label at which the match to QNAME became impossible,
and let Q2 be the nearest binary ancestor of Q1 which has an RRs
which match QTYPE. The server MUST copy those RRs from Q2 to the
Additional Section of the reply. The RCODE is set as in RFC1034: to
Name Error if the failing QNAME is the name from the original query,
or to No Error if the failing QNAME was obtained by following a
CNAME.
The second case of application of the longest-match rule is when the
whole of QNAME is matched (step 3.a. of the above-referenced
algorithm), but no RRs are present which match the QTYPE. Again,
RRs which match QTYPE MUST copied from the nearest binary ancestor
which has such RRs to the Additional Section of the reply. The
RCODE MUST be set to No Error.
In both cases, if the server reaches a zone boundary before finding
a suitable binary ancestor, it MUST copy the SOA record of the zone
to the additional section. If and only if the server is
authoritative for the parent zone also, then it MAY continue
searching for the nearest binary ancestor in the parent zone. If
appropriate RRs are found at a binary ancestor in an ancestor zone,
they MUST be placed after the SOA record(s) of the lower zone(s).
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5. Discussion
A Count of zero in the wire-form represents a 256-bit sequence, not
to optimize that particular case, but to make it completely
impossible to have a zero-bit label. The only sensible meaning I
can attach to a zero-bit label is a synonym for the DNS root, and
such a thing must not exist. (IMHO, of course.) This point is not
universally agreed.
It is expected that the primary use of the "*" label below a One-Bit
Label will be to block the action of the longest-match rule.
Paul Vixie is preparing a draft defining what I have tentatively
called "extended label codes" in section 3.1..
Does the longest-match rule need examples? Motivation?
6. Acknowledgments
Jerry Scharf suggested the backslash, which was an improvement over
my very lame initial notation. Paul Vixie suggested that the
dotted-quad notation be supported. They should not be assumed to
support every choice represented in this draft, however.
7. References
[ABNF] D. Crocker, Ed., P. Overell, "Augmented BNF for Syntax
Specifications: ABNF", RFC 2234.
[DNSCF] P.V. Mockapetris, "Domain names - concepts and facilities",
RFC 1034.
[DNSIS] P.V. Mockapetris, "Domain names - implementation and
specification", RFC 1035.
[KWORD] S. Bradner, "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
Requirement Levels," RFC 2119.
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8. Author's Address
Matt Crawford
Fermilab MS 368
PO Box 500
Batavia, IL 60510
USA
Phone: +1 630 840-3461
EMail: crawdad@fnal.gov
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