Network Working Group S. Josefsson
Internet-Draft March 5, 2004
Expires: September 3, 2004
Domain Name System Media Types
draft-josefsson-mime-dns-02
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Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2004). All Rights Reserved.
Abstract
This document register the media types application/dns and text/dns,
in accordance with RFC 2048 [3]. The application/dns media type is
used to identify data on the detached Domain Name System (DNS) format
described in RFC 2540 [4]. The text/dns media type is used to
identify master files as described in RFC 1035 [2].
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Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2. MIME type registration of application/dns . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3. MIME type registration of text/dns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
4. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
5. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
6. Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Author's Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Intellectual Property and Copyright Statements . . . . . . . . . 9
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1. Introduction
Domain Name System (DNS) information is traditionally stored in text
files, so called master files or zone files. The format is described
in section 5 of RFC 1035 [2].
DNS data can also be stored in a "detached" format, intended for
archiving purposes, described in RFC 2540 [4].
This document register MIME media types for the two data formats,
following the registration procedures described in RFC 2048 [3].
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2. MIME type registration of application/dns
To: ietf-types@iana.org
Subject: Registration of MIME media type application/dns
MIME media type name: application
MIME subtype name: dns
Required parameters: None.
Optional parameters: None.
Encoding considerations: The data format is binary, and data must be
transfered unmodified. Using encodings intended for textual parts is
not recommended.
Security considerations: This media type identify content as being
detached DNS information, as documented in RFC 2540 [4]. This data
may be security relevant according to RFC 2538 [7], or secured
information according to RFC 2535 [6]. Securing the content further
may be done by standard techniques, such as OpenPGP [5] or CMS [8],
but this is outside of the scope here. Further security assessments
are not available at this point.
Interoperability considerations: The encoding of detached DNS
information is, unlike textual master files, well defined. No further
interoperability considerations are known.
Published specification: The format of data that could be tagged with
this media type is documented in RFC 2540 [4].
Applications which use this media type: DNS related software,
including software storing and using certificates stored in DNS.
Additional information:
Magic number(s): None.
File extension(s): Unknown.
Macintosh File Type Code(s): Unknown.
Person & email address to contact for further information:
Simon Josefsson simon@josefsson.org
Intended usage: LIMITED USE
Author/Change controller: simon@josefsson.org
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3. MIME type registration of text/dns
To: ietf-types@iana.org
Subject: Registration of MIME media type text/dns
MIME media type name: text
MIME subtype name: dns
Required parameters: None.
Optional parameters: None.
Encoding considerations: The data is textual, and should be
transfered in a line oriented mode. Text literals may contain CRLF
within the text. Binary transports is possible between systems that
use the same end-of-line conventions. Master files are in general
ASCII, but non-ASCII octet values may occur and are treated as opaque
values by DNS software (compare RFC 1035 section 5). The master file
format permits encoding arbitrary octet values using the "\DDD"
encoding. The use of "\DDD" encoding can be more reliable than
transporting non-ASCII through MIME transports, if data passes
through a gateway that re-encode the character data.
Security considerations: This media type identify content as being
DNS information in "master file" format, as documented in RFC 1035
[2]. The DNS data may be security relevant according to RFC 2538 [7],
or secured information according to RFC 2535 [6]. Securing the
content further may be done by standard techniques, such as OpenPGP
[5] or CMS [8], but this is outside of the scope here. Further
security assessments are not available at this point.
Interoperability considerations: There are interoperability concerns
with master files, due to the wide spread use of vendor specific
extensions. Non-ASCII comments within master files may have been
encoded in a locally chosen character sets, which may be difficult to
transport interoperably. Non-ASCII data in general can become
corrupted by re-encoding gateways. To achieve interoperability, you
can use the master file format described in the specification and the
"\DDD" encoding for non-ASCII octets.
Published specification: The format of data that could be tagged with
this MIME type is documented in RFC 1035 [2].
Applications which use this media type: DNS related software,
including software storing and using certificates stored in DNS.
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Additional information:
Magic number(s): None.
File extension(s): 'soa' and 'zone' are known to be used.
Macintosh File Type Code(s): Unknown.
Person & email address to contact for further information:
Simon Josefsson simon@josefsson.org
Intended usage: LIMITED USE
Author/Change controller: simon@josefsson.org
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4. Security Considerations
Security considerations are discussed in the security considerations
clause of the MIME registrations in section 2 and 3.
5. IANA Considerations
The IANA is asked to register the MIME media types application/dns
and text/dns using the registration templates in section 2 and 3,
according to the procedure described in RFC 2048 [3].
6. Acknowledgments
Thanks to D. Eastlake for suggesting text/dns. Thanks to Keith Moore
for reviewing earlier versions of this document. The author
acknowledges the RSA Laboratories for supporting the work that led to
this document.
Normative References
[1] Mockapetris, P., "Domain names - concepts and facilities", STD
13, RFC 1034, November 1987.
[2] Mockapetris, P., "Domain names - implementation and
specification", STD 13, RFC 1035, November 1987.
[3] Freed, N., Klensin, J. and J. Postel, "Multipurpose Internet
Mail Extensions (MIME) Part Four: Registration Procedures", BCP
13, RFC 2048, November 1996.
[4] Eastlake, D., "Detached Domain Name System (DNS) Information",
RFC 2540, March 1999.
Informative References
[5] Callas, J., Donnerhacke, L., Finney, H. and R. Thayer, "OpenPGP
Message Format", RFC 2440, November 1998.
[6] Eastlake, D., "Domain Name System Security Extensions", RFC
2535, March 1999.
[7] Eastlake, D. and O. Gudmundsson, "Storing Certificates in the
Domain Name System (DNS)", RFC 2538, March 1999.
[8] Housley, R., "Cryptographic Message Syntax (CMS)", RFC 3369,
August 2002.
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Author's Address
Simon Josefsson
EMail: simon@josefsson.org
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