On Thu, 4 Dec 2003 02:40 pm, Bruce Tonkin wrote:
> The nameserver must be "registered" with the registry, before you can
> include it in a domain name record.  Interestingly an IP address is not
> accepted for a nameserver that is outside of the .com or .net zone.

Ah right, now I understand why 5 to 6 years ago, when we started
hosting com|net|org domainnames for our clients, that we were
"required" to register our foobar.com.au nameservers at NetSol.

Re your last sentence. At least twice during the last few years
I specifically went to NetSol and changed the IPs related to these
registered com.au nameservers as our local IPs changed. Both the
facility to do so, and the requirement to do so, I thought, was
necessary.

The issue now for me is that NetSol now say there is no facility
or requirment to change the IPs anymore with them, yet when sending
them the only remaining *-HST key, domainname and IP I got an email
back saying "done". So I am thoroughly confused now. I suspect now
they responded to humur me and get me off their back as local lookups
on any nameserver that comes back from "dig ns com.au" shows that
our 4 nameserver still have the old IPs... so even this single
supposed change made at NetSol a week ago has not propogated to
the com.au. nameservers nor has the fact that I have also changed
our nameserver IPs to the new ones about 3 weeks ago yet all the
local nameservers do not reflect any change.

> Originally when you registered the cctld nameserver with the registry,
> you needed to include an IP address (part of the protocol).  This IP
> address was not used in the .com or .net zone, it was HOWEVER displayed
> in the WHOIS entry for information purposes only.

Bizarre. Such an onerous requirement for cosmetic needs that have
since proved counter-productive and abusable information by spammers
and such like. And to think of the hastles I had to go thru with
NetSols archaic mail-auth system to make changes that were really
not required at all... grrr.

> Although you could register the cctld nameserver in the registry
> database with an IP address, you COULD NOT modify the IP address.

I'm unsure of the definition of gTLD vs cctld but if it applies
to NetSols com|net|org registry last century then it most definately
did require an associated IP with each nameserver.

>  You
> COULD delete the cctld nameserver entry, and then create a new entry
> with a new IP address.   Apparently it was thought to not be useful to
> allow the modification of the IP address, as this would cause people to
> think that modifying the entry had some sort of operational
> significance.

If this is for the InterNIC/NetSol then, as stated, I did have the
ability to change the IP and did so 2 if not 3 times for these same
set of registered com.au nameservers.

>  However it would (and has!) cause confusion to have
> information displayed in the WHOIS that did not match the real IP
> address of the cctld nameserver.

So because this IP info was cosmetic and not an acted upon in
reality, that it was possible for it to get out of sync therefor
worse than useless.

> After 27 Oct 2001, registrars were able to modify a cctld nameserver
> record (ie change the host name of the cctld nameserver), but at the
> same time the IP address must be deleted.

So there was a cetain time when changes took place that made what
I was doing redundant, but I missed the warning signs at that time.

> I believe that soon after that time, the registry ceased to display the
> IP address of cctld nameservers in the WHOIS to reduce confusion.
> However the registry records themselves probably still have the IP
> address (although this should be mostly invisible to end users).

Yes, if your reference involves NetSol now then neither can I 
see nor change those related IPs. However, it seems like this
is all completely redundant for the last 2 years. So any concerns 
I had about our com.au registered nameserver hosts at (nee InterNIC)
NetSol is null and void, fine, however a very basic problem for me 
still remains.

3 weeks ago I changed these 4 com.au nameservers to the new IPs
and one week ago NetSol replied that they indeed did change the
IP of the single related nameserver that I still had the *-HST
object name for, however, when checking any nameserver that comes
back from a "dig ns com.au." it still shows our 4 nameservers with
the old IPs... all 4 of them... so neither me changing the IPs
has propogated nor NetSol (supposedly) changing the IP for just
one of them has had no effect.

What is the correct and proper procedure in this fine 21st century
for me to update and see succesfully propogated 4 new IPs for our
original set of 4 com.au nameservers ?

--markc