[db-wg] Syntax of the "nserver:" Attribute in Domain Objects

[Apologies for duplicate emails]

Dear colleagues,

Following on from the removal of the forward DOMAIN objects from the
RIPE Database, all DOMAIN objects are now used for either reverse DNS or
ENUM delegations. For both these cases, the "nserver:" attribute is
required. Currently this attribute is optional and there are many
objects in the RIPE Database that do not have any "nserver:" attributes.
These objects are ignored by the DNS provisioning service, because they
have no operational value.

The RIPE NCC proposes to make the "nserver:" attribute mandatory in
DOMAIN objects and delete any objects from the RIPE Database that do not
have this attribute.

To simplify the parsing of DOMAIN objects, the RIPE NCC also proposes to
deprecate the list option on the "nserver:" attribute (a list, when used
in combination with end-of-line comments and continuation lines, is very
complex to parse). This means adding multiple name servers to a single
attribute will no longer be allowed. For example, an attribute currently
formatted as:

nserver: ns1.example.com ns2.example.net

will have to be rewritten as:

nserver: ns1.example.com
nserver: ns2.example.net

If glue records are required, they would be written like this:

nserver: ns1.2.0.192.in-addr.arpa 192.0.2.1
nserver: ns1.2.0.192.in-addr.arpa 2001:db8::1
nserver: ns2.2.0.192.in-addr.arpa 192.0.2.2
nserver: ns2.2.0.192.in-addr.arpa 2001:db8::2

There are a number of domain objects in the RIPE Database which use the
list feature, and list multiple name servers in a single "nserver:"
attribute. As part of this syntax change, we would update these objects
to use the new syntax. This would not affect DNS delegation in any way.

This message has been sent to both the DNS and Database working groups,
but we ask that discussion of this matter be kept on the DNS WG mailing
list.

Regards,

Anand Buddhdev
RIPE NCC