Understanding DNS LOC Records: A Rarely Used DNS Feature for Specifying Physical Locations
By
mikejeays
Pure flour-power. Hearty enough to carry you through lunch.
Summary
The article discusses DNS LOC (location) records, a little-used type of DNS record that allows specifying physical locations. It explains that while CloudFlare handles millions of DNS records, only 743 are LOC records. The article provides technical background on DNS infrastructure, mentioning CloudFlare's custom authoritative DNS server called RRDNS written in Go, which helps them serve DNS requests quickly and handle attacks. It covers the history and complexity of DNS standards, and notes that despite being rarely used, LOC records can be set up in CloudFlare's DNS editor.
Key quotes
· 5 pulledOne little used type of DNS record is the LOC (or location). It allows you to specify a physical location.
CloudFlare handles millions of DNS records; of those just 743 are LOCs.
A cornerstone of CloudFlare's infrastructure is our ability to serve DNS requests quickly and handle DNS attacks.
Implementing an authoritative DNS server is a large task. That's in part because DNS is a very old standard (RFC 1035 dates to 1987).
Nevertheless, it's possible to set up a LOC record in the CloudFlare DNS editor.
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