Name Challenge Enabled Zones

• US 20070283028A1
• Filed: 06/01/2006
• Published: 12/06/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 06/01/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Westhead, Jeffrey J., Gilroy, James M., Majumdar, Moon, Janardhan, Kamal Anupama
• Application Number:
  US11/421,641
• Publication Number:
  US 20070283028A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/230
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/30 Managing network names, e.g. use of aliases or nicknames name-to-address mapping H04L61/45
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/3015 Name registration, generation or assignment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4511 using domain name system [DNS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/5076 Update or notification mechanisms, e.g. DynDNS

Abstract

A method and system for implementing name challenge enabled zones is described herein. A DNS server receives an update from a client device. If the DNS server hosts an authoritative zone for the update, the DNS server determines whether there is a record for the host name. If so, then the IP address associated with the host name is determined. The IP address is compared to the source address of the client device sending the update. If the IP addresses match, then the update is accepted.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving an update at a domain name system (DNS) server from a first client device, the update including a host name;

determining whether the DNS server hosts an authoritative zone for the update;

determining whether there is already a record for the host name; and

if so,

determining an Internet Protocol (IP) address associated with the host name;

determining whether the IP address associated with the host name matches a source IP address of the first client device; and

accepting the update if the IP addresses match.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising accepting the update if there is no record for the host name.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending a DNS query to a second client device having the IP address associated with the host name if the IP address associated with the host name does not match the source IP address of the first client device.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising rejecting the update if an acknowledgement is received from the second client device in response to the DNS query.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising accepting the update if no acknowledgement is received from the second client device in response to the DNS query.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising replicating the update to another DNS server.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether there is already a record for the host name comprises checking multiple records of multiple types.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein one of the record types is an Address (A) record.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein one of the record types is an IPv6 address record.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein one of the record types is a Canonical Name (CNAME) record.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the zone is file-backed.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the zone is integrated with a directory system.

13. One or more device-readable media with device-executable instructions for performing steps comprising:

receiving an update from a first client device at a domain name system (DNS) server that hosts an authoritative zone for the update, the update including a host name;

checking one or more records in the zone to determine whether there is already a record for the host name, and if so,

checking the record for the host name to determine an Internet Protocol (IP) address associated with the host name;

determining whether the IP address associated with the host name matches a source IP address of the first client device, and if not,

sending a DNS query to a second client device having the IP address associated with the host name; and

determining whether to accept the update based on whether the second client device responds to the DNS query.

14. The one or more device-readable media of claim 13, wherein the steps further comprise accepting the update if there is no record for the host name.

15. The one or more device-readable media of claim 13, wherein the steps further comprise accepting the update if the IP address associated with the host name matches the source IP address of the first client device.

16. The one or more device-readable media of claim 13, wherein determining whether to accept the update based on whether the second client device responds to the DNS query comprises rejecting the update if the second client device responds to the DNS query and accepting the update if the second client device does not respond to the DNS query.

17. A method comprising:

receiving an update from a first client device at a domain name system (DNS) server, the update including a host name;

determining whether there is already a record for the host name; and

if so,

determining a source IP address of a registrant of the host name;

determining whether the source IP address of the registrant of the host name matches the first client device'"'"'s source IP address, and if not,

sending a DNS query to the registrant of the host name; and

rejecting the update if an acknowledgement is received from the registrant in response to the DNS query.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising accepting the update if there is no record for the host name.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising accepting the update if the source IP address of the registrant of the host name matches the first client device'"'"'s source IP address.

20. The method of claim 17, further comprising accepting the update if no response is received from the registrant in response to the DNS query.