> look if you have an address like the one in my earlier example > www.clug.geek.nz, ANY dns server anywhere on the net has to go through a > four level query, accessing up to 4 different servers That means that everytime anyone connected to an ISP to a slightly different address the ISP would do the four piece lookup you mention. Every other router system I know asks peers if it knows the info required and if yes then accepts that but if no moves higher up the chain to find an answer closer to the source it seeks.
According to what you are saying a DNS server ( which is doing look ups to find places) always looks to the source to get the authorative IP address. That means if you are running a DNS server at M$ you would be flooded with requests from every DNS server in the world ( or nearly every DNs server in the world) on a regular basis asking what the IP address for Microsoft.com is. That in itself would almost constitute a DOS on the microsoft DNS. Then imagine the poor machines slighly down stream that handle not only M$ but IBM, Borland, Redhat, Google, ... the number of connections you are suggesting just for the refresh of DNS lookups is huge. At same stage there would have to be an acceptance that someone closer to the source than you, but not the source itself, is capable of giving a reasonable answer and that would be accepted by the querying DNS server. The alternative is a net clagged up with DNS machines all trying to tell each other where they are, what their address is and how to reach them. And you think that navigating Fendalton road at 8:20 in th emorning is hellish ... Shane
