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+Network Working Group O. Gudmundsson
+Request for Comments: 3226 December 2001
+Updates: 2874, 2535
+Category: Standards Track
+
+
+ DNSSEC and IPv6 A6 aware server/resolver message size requirements
+
+Status of this Memo
+
+ This document specifies an Internet standards track protocol for the
+ Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for
+ improvements. Please refer to the current edition of the "Internet
+ Official Protocol Standards" (STD 1) for the standardization state
+ and status of this protocol. Distribution of this memo is unlimited.
+
+Copyright Notice
+
+ Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2001). All Rights Reserved.
+
+Abstract
+
+ This document mandates support for EDNS0 (Extension Mechanisms for
+ DNS) in DNS entities claiming to support either DNS Security
+ Extensions or A6 records. This requirement is necessary because
+ these new features increase the size of DNS messages. If EDNS0 is
+ not supported fall back to TCP will happen, having a detrimental
+ impact on query latency and DNS server load. This document updates
+ RFC 2535 and RFC 2874, by adding new requirements.
+
+1. Introduction
+
+ Familiarity with the DNS [RFC1034, RFC1035], DNS Security Extensions
+ [RFC2535], EDNS0 [RFC2671] and A6 [RFC2874] is helpful.
+
+ STD 13, RFC 1035 Section 2.3.4 requires that DNS messages over UDP
+ have a data payload of 512 octets or less. Most DNS software today
+ will not accept larger UDP datagrams. Any answer that requires more
+ than 512 octets, results in a partial and sometimes useless reply
+ with the Truncation Bit set; in most cases the requester will then
+ retry using TCP. Furthermore, server delivery of truncated responses
+ varies widely and resolver handling of these responses also varies,
+ leading to additional inefficiencies in handling truncation.
+
+ Compared to UDP, TCP is an expensive protocol to use for a simple
+ transaction like DNS: a TCP connection requires 5 packets for setup
+ and tear down, excluding data packets, thus requiring at least 3
+ round trips on top of the one for the original UDP query. The DNS
+
+
+
+Gudmundsson Standards Track [Page 1]
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+RFC 3226 DNSSEC and IPv6 A6 requirements December 2001
+
+
+ server also needs to keep a state of the connection during this
+ transaction. Many DNS servers answer thousands of queries per
+ second, requiring them to use TCP will cause significant overhead and
+ delays.
+
+1.1. Requirements
+
+ The key words "MUST", "REQUIRED", "SHOULD", "RECOMMENDED", and "MAY"
+ in this document are to be interpreted as described in RFC 2119.
+
+2. Motivating factors
+
+2.1. DNSSEC motivations
+
+ DNSSEC [RFC2535] secures DNS by adding a Public Key signature on each
+ RR set. These signatures range in size from about 80 octets to 800
+ octets, most are going to be in the range of 80 to 200 octets. The
+ addition of signatures on each or most RR sets in an answer
+ significantly increases the size of DNS answers from secure zones.
+
+ For performance reasons and to reduce load on DNS servers, it is
+ important that security aware servers and resolvers get all the data
+ in Answer and Authority section in one query without truncation.
+ Sending Additional Data in the same query is helpful when the server
+ is authoritative for the data, and this reduces round trips.
+
+ DNSSEC OK[OK] specifies how a client can, using EDNS0, indicate that
+ it is interested in receiving DNSSEC records. The OK bit does not
+ eliminate the need for large answers for DNSSEC capable clients.
+
+2.1.1. Message authentication or TSIG motivation
+
+ TSIG [RFC2845] allows for the light weight authentication of DNS
+ messages, but increases the size of the messages by at least 70
+ octets. DNSSEC specifies for computationally expensive message
+ authentication SIG(0) using a standard public key signature. As only
+ one TSIG or SIG(0) can be attached to each DNS answer the size
+ increase of message authentication is not significant, but may still
+ lead to a truncation.
+
+2.2. IPv6 Motivations
+
+ IPv6 addresses [RFC2874] are 128 bits and can be represented in the
+ DNS by multiple A6 records, each consisting of a domain name and a
+ bit field. The domain name refers to an address prefix that may
+ require additional A6 RRs to be included in the answer. Answers
+ where the queried name has multiple A6 addresses may overflow a 512-
+ octet UDP packet size.
+
+
+
+Gudmundsson Standards Track [Page 2]
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+RFC 3226 DNSSEC and IPv6 A6 requirements December 2001
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+2.3. Root server and TLD server motivations
+
+ The current number of root servers is limited to 13 as that is the
+ maximum number of name servers and their address records that fit in
+ one 512-octet answer for a SOA record. If root servers start
+ advertising A6 or KEY records then the answer for the root NS records
+ will not fit in a single 512-octet DNS message, resulting in a large
+ number of TCP query connections to the root servers. Even if all
+ client resolver query their local name server for information, there
+ are millions of these servers. Each name server must periodically
+ update its information about the high level servers.
+
+ For redundancy, latency and load balancing reasons, large numbers of
+ DNS servers are required for some zones. Since the root zone is used
+ by the entire net, it is important to have as many servers as
+ possible. Large TLDs (and many high-visibility SLDs) often have
+ enough servers that either A6 or KEY records would cause the NS
+ response to overflow the 512 byte limit. Note that these zones with
+ large numbers of servers are often exactly those zones that are
+ critical to network operation and that already sustain fairly high
+ loads.
+
+2.4. UDP vs TCP for DNS messages
+
+ Given all these factors, it is essential that any implementation that
+ supports DNSSEC and or A6 be able to use larger DNS messages than 512
+ octets.
+
+ The original 512 restriction was put in place to reduce the
+ probability of fragmentation of DNS responses. A fragmented UDP
+ message that suffers a loss of one of the fragments renders the
+ answer useless and the query must be retried. A TCP connection
+ requires a larger number of round trips for establishment, data
+ transfer and tear down, but only the lost data segments are
+ retransmitted.
+
+ In the early days a number of IP implementations did not handle
+ fragmentation well, but all modern operating systems have overcome
+ that issue thus sending fragmented messages is fine from that
+ standpoint. The open issue is the effect of losses on fragmented
+ messages. If connection has high loss ratio only TCP will allow
+ reliable transfer of DNS data, most links have low loss ratios thus
+ sending fragmented UDP packet in one round trip is better than
+ establishing a TCP connection to transfer a few thousand octets.
+
+
+
+
+
+
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+Gudmundsson Standards Track [Page 3]
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+RFC 3226 DNSSEC and IPv6 A6 requirements December 2001
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+2.5. EDNS0 and large UDP messages
+
+ EDNS0 [RFC2671] allows clients to declare the maximum size of UDP
+ message they are willing to handle. Thus, if the expected answer is
+ between 512 octets and the maximum size that the client can accept,
+ the additional overhead of a TCP connection can be avoided.
+
+3. Protocol changes:
+
+ This document updates RFC 2535 and RFC 2874, by adding new
+ requirements.
+
+ All RFC 2535 compliant servers and resolvers MUST support EDNS0 and
+ advertise message size of at least 1220 octets, but SHOULD advertise
+ message size of 4000. This value might be too low to get full
+ answers for high level servers and successor of this document may
+ require a larger value.
+
+ All RFC 2874 compliant servers and resolver MUST support EDNS0 and
+ advertise message size of at least 1024 octets, but SHOULD advertise
+ message size of 2048. The IPv6 datagrams should be 1024 octets,
+ unless the MTU of the path is known. (Note that this is smaller than
+ the minimum IPv6 MTU to allow for some extension headers and/or
+ encapsulation without exceeding the minimum MTU.)
+
+ All RFC 2535 and RFC 2874 compliant entities MUST be able to handle
+ fragmented IPv4 and IPv6 UDP packets.
+
+ All hosts supporting both RFC 2535 and RFC 2874 MUST use the larger
+ required value in EDNS0 advertisements.
+
+4. Acknowledgments
+
+ Harald Alvestrand, Rob Austein, Randy Bush, David Conrad, Andreas
+ Gustafsson, Jun-ichiro itojun Hagino, Bob Halley, Edward Lewis
+ Michael Patton and Kazu Yamamoto were instrumental in motivating and
+ shaping this document.
+
+5. Security Considerations:
+
+ There are no additional security considerations other than those in
+ RFC 2671.
+
+6. IANA Considerations:
+
+ None
+
+
+
+
+
+Gudmundsson Standards Track [Page 4]
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+RFC 3226 DNSSEC and IPv6 A6 requirements December 2001
+
+
+7. References
+
+ [RFC1034] Mockapetris, P., "Domain Names - Concepts and Facilities",
+ STD 13, RFC 1034, November 1987.
+
+ [RFC1035] Mockapetris, P., "Domain Names - Implementation and
+ Specification", STD 13, RFC 1035, November 1987.
+
+ [RFC2535] Eastlake, D. "Domain Name System Security Extensions", RFC
+ 2535, March 1999.
+
+ [RFC2671] Vixie, P., "Extension Mechanisms for DNS (EDNS0)", RFC
+ 2671, August 1999.
+
+ [RFC2845] Vixie, P., Gudmundsson, O., Eastlake, D. and B.
+ Wellington, "Secret Key Transaction Authentication for DNS
+ (TSIG)", RFC 2845, May 2000.
+
+ [RFC2874] Crawford, M. and C. Huitema, "DNS Extensions to Support
+ IPv6 Address Aggregation and Renumbering", RFC 2874, July
+ 2000.
+
+ [RFC3225] Conrad, D., "Indicating Resolver Support of DNSSEC", RFC
+ 3225, December 2001.
+
+8. Author Address
+
+ Olafur Gudmundsson
+ 3826 Legation Street, NW
+ Washington, DC 20015
+ USA
+
+ EMail: ogud@ogud.com
+
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+Gudmundsson Standards Track [Page 5]
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+RFC 3226 DNSSEC and IPv6 A6 requirements December 2001
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+9. Full Copyright Statement
+
+ Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2001). All Rights Reserved.
+
+ This document and translations of it may be copied and furnished to
+ others, and derivative works that comment on or otherwise explain it
+ or assist in its implementation may be prepared, copied, published
+ and distributed, in whole or in part, without restriction of any
+ kind, provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph are
+ included on all such copies and derivative works. However, this
+ document itself may not be modified in any way, such as by removing
+ the copyright notice or references to the Internet Society or other
+ Internet organizations, except as needed for the purpose of
+ developing Internet standards in which case the procedures for
+ copyrights defined in the Internet Standards process must be
+ followed, or as required to translate it into languages other than
+ English.
+
+ The limited permissions granted above are perpetual and will not be
+ revoked by the Internet Society or its successors or assigns.
+
+ This document and the information contained herein is provided on an
+ "AS IS" basis and THE INTERNET SOCIETY AND THE INTERNET ENGINEERING
+ TASK FORCE DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING
+ BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY THAT THE USE OF THE INFORMATION
+ HEREIN WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY RIGHTS OR ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
+ MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
+
+Acknowledgement
+
+ Funding for the RFC Editor function is currently provided by the
+ Internet Society.
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