Re: The DNS is not a directory

[Patrik Fältström <paf at swip.net>]

At 09.14 -0700 98-04-23, Dave Crocker wrote:
>The DNS is used less as a directory system than current mythology claims.
>In fact, I claim it isn't used as a directory system at all.

I definitely claim that the DNS is a directory system which can handle
lookups, not searches.

I.e. if you have a key for a record, you look it up in DNS, and get a
response back. No other system in the world handle that faster and more
efficient than DNS.

If you want to do a search, you can not use DNS, because searching is not
implemented -- and will never be.

And, you can _NOT_ replace searching by the combination of guessing a key
and lookup.

So, it all goes down to the definition of "directory". For me, a directory
can exist with the features of DNS, i.e. only have keyed lookups. Hey,
X.500 is like that on the global level! You have to "guess" the beginning
of the DN to be able to start the search. A directory for me is storage of
information, and DNS is exactly that.

For Dave, and others, a directory must also have the capabilities of
searches, on some level, and if you use that definition -- DNS is not a
directory.

   Patrik