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The TCP/IP Guide  9  TCP/IP Application Layer Protocols, Services and Applications (OSI Layers 5, 6 and 7)       9  Name Systems and TCP/IP Name Registration and Name Resolution            9  TCP/IP Name Systems: Host Tables and Domain Name System (DNS)                 9  TCP/IP Domain Name System (DNS)                      9  DNS Name Servers and Name Resolution                           9  DNS Name Server Concepts and Operation

DNS Name Server Types and Roles: Primary/Master, Secondary/Slave and Caching-Only Servers 1 2 3 DNS Root Name Servers

The authority for a particular DNS zone is responsible for performing a variety of tasks to manage it. Zone management encompasses the entire gamut of jobs related to a zone: deciding on the name hierarchy within the zone, specifying procedures for name registration, technical work related to keeping DNS servers running and other “administrative overhead” of all sorts. This job can be either very small or incredibly large, depending on the type of organization. A small domain owned by an individual doesn't require much work to manage, while one for a huge company might require a dedicated staff to maintain.

It is important that it be possible for anyone on an internetwork to be able to determine who the owner of a domain is, so that person can be reached for whatever reason. On the Internet, each DNS domain has associated with it a set of three contacts that are responsible for different facets of managing a domain. These are the:

• Administrative Contact: The “main” contact, responsible for the domain as a whole. This individual or organization is considered the overall owner of the domain.
  
  
• Billing Contact: A contact responsible for handling payment for domain services and other accounting matters.
  
  
• Technical Contact: A contact who handles the technical details of setting up DNS for the domain and making sure it works.

For smaller domains, there usually is no separate billing contact; it is the same as the administrative contact. In contrast, the technical contact is often different from the administrative contact in both large and small domains. Large organizations will make the technical contact someone in their information technology department. Small organizations often let their Internet Service Provider (ISP) provide DNS services, and in that case, the technical contact would be someone at that ISP.

DNS Name Server Types and Roles: Primary/Master, Secondary/Slave and Caching-Only Servers 1 2 3 DNS Root Name Servers