Naming and DNS

(Usage hints for this presentation)

VM Neuland im Internet 2021
Dr. Jens Lechtenbörger (License Information)

Data Science: Machine Learning and Data Engineering (Prof. Gieseke)
Dept. of Information Systems
WWU Münster, Germany

Agenda

1. Introduction
2. Domain Name System (DNS)
3. In-Class
4. Conclusions

1 Introduction

1.1 Today’s Core Questions

How are names typically managed in computer systems?
What is the DNS?
- How to interpret names such as www.uni-muenster.de?
- How does it work?

1.2 Learning Objectives

Explain DNS as example for namespace management
- Explain notions of name server, zone, resource record
- Explain iterative DNS resolution
Discuss properties of Zooko’s triangle in relation to DNS
Perform DNS lookups for different resource types via nslookup

1.3 Recall: DNS in Internet Protocol Stack

DNS is application layer request-reply protocol between clients and servers
Finding IP addresses for names such as www.uni-muenster.de is among the first steps of Internet communication

1.4 Namespaces and Name Services

Name service = System managing namespace, in particular mapping names to values
- E.g., DNS names and IP addresses, E-Mail addresses and public keys, file names and storage locations
- Names may be flat or hierarchical, potentially infinitely many
- Namespace often structured
  - Similar name parts without conflict
    - E.g., server named www in lots of organizations
  - Grouping of related names
    - E.g., all university computers with names ending in uni-muenster.de
  - Typically directed graphs
    - Leafs: Named entities
    - Inner nodes: Directories
  - Enable transparent restructuring

2 Domain Name System (DNS)

2.1 Basics

DNS specified in RFC 1034 and RFC 1035
- Updated/augmented by various other RFCs
  - http://bind9.net/rfc
DNS is a distributed name service
- Collectively manages DNS names
  - Names mapped to resource records by name servers
    - Resource record: Next slide
- Scalable (today’s Internet)
  - Caching
  - Partitioned database
- Fault tolerance via replication

2.1.1 Resource Records

Name servers manage resource records
- (NAME, TTL, CLASS, TYPE, VALUE)
  - E.g., (www.uni-muenster.de., 7200, IN, A, 128.176.6.250)
  - NAME, VALUE: Mostly names and IP addresses
  - TTL: Time to live (caching period in seconds) of resource record
  - Sample TYPE values
    - A: DNS name NAME has IPv4 address VALUE (IPv6 is AAAA)
    - NS: VALUE is DNS name for authoritative name server of domain NAME
    - CNAME: VALUE is canonical name; used for aliasing
    - MX: VALUE is DNS name for mail server of domain NAME
    - SOA: Start of Authority, management and name server information
  - CLASS: Constantly IN in Internet
Live examples in-class

2.2 DNS Names

DNS defines namespace with absolute and relative names
- Absolute: ending in dot (.)
  - www.uni-muenster.de.
  - . (Root)
- Relative: not ending in dot
  - www.uni-muenster.de, www
  - de, org (Top Level Domains, TLDs)
  - Completed in local domain
    - E.g., www might mean www.wiwi.uni-muenster.de., www.uni-muenster.de., or www.wwu.de, while www.uni-muenster.de means www.uni-muenster.de.
    - Final dot almost always omitted when typing names
- Reserved names: RFC 2606, e.g., .example.com

2.3 DNS Zones

DNS namespace partitioned into so-called zones
- Zones reflect administrative structure of Internet
  - E.g., wwu.de. is a subzone of de., which in turn is a subzone of the root zone .
  - Various registries (e.g., DENIC for .de., university for wwu.de.)
- Zones managed by authoritative name servers
  - A form of decentralization
  - At least two replicated name servers per zone for fault tolerance

2.3.1 DNS Namespace

Domain name space

“Domain name space” by LionKimbro under Public domain; from Wikimedia Commons

2.3.2 DNS Root Zone and Servers

Root zone . managed by ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers)
- Names and addresses of root name servers
  - named.cache
  - Starting points for name lookups
- 13 root name server names as redundant entry points
  - Single letter names a.root-servers.net, …, m.root-servers.net
    - Those 13 names are implemented by hundreds of replicated servers
    - (Using a routing technique called anycast)
  - Root servers are responsible for TLD lookups

2.3.3 Resolution Challenge

No DNS server knows all names
E.g., university’s name server knows everything about names ending in wwu.de., but nothing about names ending in wikipedia.org.
- What to do if client in university asks for www.wikipedia.org?
- Answer: Our name server asks somebody else
  - Our name server does not know a name server for wikipedia.org.
  - Every name server is preconfigured with names and addresses of root name servers …

2.4 Name Resolution

Obtaining information for a DNS name is called name resolution
Components responsible for resolution are called resolvers
- Each with cache for recent results (up to time-to-live (TTL) of resource record)
Side note
- DNS name does not necessarily represent single machine
  - Multiple resource records can exist for any name
    - E.g., multiple A records for multiple IPv4 addresses
  - Subsequent DNS requests for name can lead to different IP addresses, e.g., round-robin DNS

2.4.1 DNS Resolvers

DNS in the real world

“DNS in the real world” by Lion Kimbro under Public domain; from Wikimedia Commons

2.4.2 Local Resolver

Application calls OS, e.g., InetAddress.getByName(String) in Java
OS uses local configuration and network services
- “hosts file”: /etc/hosts, %systemroot%\system32\drivers\etc\hosts
  - List of DNS names with IP addresses
- Name services such as DNS, LDAP, NIS
  - OS configured with IP address(es) of DNS name server(s)
    - E.g., 128.176.0.12, 128.176.0.13 within university
    - Automatic configuration with DHCP
Beware of profiling
- Your DNS server learns every hostname contacted by your computer

2.4.3 Iterative DNS Resolution

Example of an iterative DNS resolver

“Example of an iterative DNS resolver” by Lion Kimbro under Public domain; from Wikimedia Commons

What is called DNS Iterator here, could be our university’s name server, which is contacted by your operating system when you enter an address in your browser. That server is called Iterator here because you see the iterative variant of DNS resolution. A recursive variant exists as well but will not be covered here.

In the shown example, the IP address of a web server of wikipedia is requested. When the DNS Iterator is started, it is preconfigured with the names and IP addresses of the root name servers. Based on this information, it can perform iterative resolution starting from the end of the name, here dot org.

In step 1, the Iterator contacts a root name server to learn the IP address of a TLD name server responsible for dot org. Here, the root name server with IP address 198.41.0.4 delivers the IP address 204.74.112.1 of a name server for the TLD dot org. In step 2, the Iterator contacts that name server and asks it for a name server responsible for the domain wikipedia.org, which results in IP address 207.142.131.234. In step 3, finally that name server is contacted to resolve the IP address for the web server www.wikipedia.org.

2.5 DNS as Network Application

DNS follows request/reply communication pattern
- Queries and answers are network messages
  - “Small,” fit into single IP datagram
  - Delivery either via UDP or TCP
    - Typically, DNS uses UDP on well-known port 53
    - Best effort service model
    - Why is that good enough?
Originally, no security mechanisms
- DNS spoofing (cache poisoning)
- Attackers add fake IP addresses to hosts file to redirect traffic
- Attackers replace DNS server configuration (e.g., GhostDNS in 2018)
DNSSEC under deployment since 2010
- Integrity protection with digital signatures

3 In-Class

3.1 Dynamic DNS (DynDNS)

Aim: Permanent DNS name for dynamic IP address
Idea
- Special DNS servers allow updates in real-time
- TTL of 60s
- Special client software to notify DNS server of changed IP address
  - Sometimes integrated into DSL router/modem

3.2 DNS Query Tools

dig (next slide) or nslookup as command line tools
nslookup (monitor with Wireshark to see all details)
- Query for IP address
  - www.uni-muenster.de
- Query for mail server
  - set type=MX
  - uni-muenster.de
- Query for name server, ask specific server
  - set type=NS
  - server 128.176.0.12
  - gitlab.com
Further info on domain names: whois
- whois gitlab.com

3.2.1 Example for `dig`

Why 13 name servers?
Answer: Compatibility issues
- UDP replies restricted by DNS (RFC 1035) to 512 bytes
- dig @a.root-servers.net . soa
  - With 13 servers, response had 497 bytes; no space for 14th
Now larger responses with Extension mechanisms for DNS

3.3 DNS over HTTPS (DoH)

DoH: Encapsulate DNS requests in HTTPS messages for security
- RFC 8484
  - Since 2018
    - Different degrees of adoption in different browsers
- Controversy
  - Protection of HTTPS
  - “Trusted” DoH resolver
    - Centralization step, single point of failure, single point of surveillance

3.4 Decentralized Namespaces

Desirable properties
- Security, with variations
  - Self-authenticating: Given name-value pair, anyone can verify that both belong together
    - E.g., name is cryptographic hash of value
  - Strong ownership: Proof of name ownership with digital signatures
- User-chosen names: Readable, memorizable
- Decentralization: Users register names without central authorities

Above three properties known as Zooko’s triangle
- [Zoo01] Thought to be impossible to have all three
- Blockchain technology may provide solutions
  - (See [KCE+15] for Namecoin, [ANS+16] for Blockstack)

3.4.1 DNS in Relation to Zooko’s Triangle?

4 Conclusions

4.1 Summary

DNS is prime example for name service and distributed system
DNS servers manage resource records in zones
Zooko’s triangle points to limitations

Bibliography

[ANS+16] Ali, Nelson, Shea & Freedman, Blockstack: A Global Naming and Storage System Secured by Blockchains, in: USENIX Annual Technical Conference, 2016. https://www.usenix.org/system/files/conference/atc16/atc16_paper-ali.pdf
[KCE+15] Kalodner, Carlsten, Ellenbogen Paul, Bonneau & Narayanan, An Empirical Study of Namecoin and Lessons for Decentralized Namespace Design, in: WEIS, 2015. https://www.econinfosec.org/archive/weis2015/papers/WEIS_2015_kalodner.pdf
[Zoo01] Wilcox-O'Hearn, Names: Decentralized, Secure, Human-Meaningful: Choose Two, 2001. https://web.archive.org/web/20011020191610/http://zooko.com/distnames.html

License Information

This document is part of a larger course. Source code and source files are available on GitLab under free licenses.