RESILIENT DOMAIN NAME SERVICE (DNS) RESOLUTION WHEN AN AUTHORITATIVE NAME SERVER IS DEGRADED

• US 20180375716A1
• Filed: 01/26/2018
• Published: 12/27/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 06/26/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: VeriSign, Inc.
• Original Assignee: VeriSign, Inc.
• Inventors: HUQUE, Shumon, KALISKI, JR., Burton S., OSTERWEIL, Eric, SCALZO, Frank, WESSELS, Duane, WILEY, Glen
• Granted Patent: US 11,025,482 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/042 comprising distributed management centres cooperatively managing the network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0654 using network fault recovery ring fault isolation or reconfiguration in loop networks without recovery actions by a network management system H04L12/437
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/45 Network directories; Name-to-address mapping
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4511 using domain name system [DNS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/5076 Update or notification mechanisms, e.g. DynDNS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/58 Caching of addresses or names
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/40 for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity, e.g. service redundancy protocols, protocol state redundancy or protocol service redirection management of faults, events, alarms or notifications in data switching networks H04L41/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/04 Arrangements for maintaining operational condition

Abstract

In one embodiment, a resolution resiliency application modifies domain name service (DNS) resolution. In operation, the resolution resiliency application determines that an authoritative name server has begun recovering from a degraded state or receives a flush list update from the authoritative name server. In response, the resolution resiliency application performs operation(s) that modify a query rate and/or a cache. The query rate specifies a frequency associated with DNS queries transmitted to the first authoritative name server. The cache stores DNS record(s) received from the first authoritative name server. Finally, the resolution resiliency application generates a DNS response to a DNS query based on the modified query rate and/or the modified cache.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for modifying domain name service (DNS) resolution, the method comprising:

determining that a first authoritative name server has begun recovering from a degraded state or receiving a flush list update from the first authoritative name server;

in response, performing one or more operations that modify at least one of a query rate specifying a frequency associated with DNS queries transmitted to the first authoritative name server and a cache storing one or more DNS records received from the first authoritative name server; and

generating a DNS response to a DNS query based on at least one of the modified query rate and the modified cache.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the one or more operations comprise determining that a first DNS record included in the cache is included in the flush list update, and deleting the first DNS record from the cache.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, further comprising, prior to receiving the flush list update, transmitting a flush inquiry to the first authoritative name server.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, further comprising, subsequent to performing the one or more operations, setting a flush time equal to a current time.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the one or more operations comprise computing the modified query rate based on an elapsed time between a current time and an initial recovery time associated with the degraded state.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the one or more operations comprise setting the modified query rate to a predetermined rate.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein generating the DNS response comprises:

determining that the modified cache does not include a DNS record associated with the DNS query;

determining that the modified query rate allows the DNS query to be transmitted to the first authoritative name server; and

transmitting the DNS query to the first authoritative name server.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein generating the DNS response comprises:

determining that the modified cache does not include a DNS record associated with the DNS query;

determining that the modified query rate prohibits the DNS query from being transmitted to the first authoritative name server; and

transmitting the DNS query to a second authoritative name server.

9. A computer-readable storage medium including instructions that, when executed by a processor, configure the processor to perform the steps of:

determining that a first authoritative name server has begun recovering from a degraded state or receiving a flush list update from the first authoritative name server;

in response, performing one or more operations that modify at least one of a query rate specifying a frequency associated with DNS queries transmitted to the first authoritative name server and a cache storing one or more DNS records received from the first authoritative name server; and

generating a DNS response to a DNS query based on at least one of the modified query rate and the modified cache.

10. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the one or more operations comprise determining that a first DNS record included in the cache is included in the flush list update, and deleting the first DNS record from the cache.

11. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, further comprising, prior to receiving the flush list update, transmitting a flush inquiry to the first authoritative name server.

12. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the one or more operations comprise computing the modified query rate based on an elapsed time between a current time and an initial recovery time associated with the degraded state.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein generating the DNS response comprises:

determining that the modified cache does not include a DNS record associated with the DNS query;

determining that the modified query rate prohibits the DNS query from being transmitted to the first authoritative name server; and

transmitting the DNS query to a second authoritative name server.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, wherein the DNS query specifies a domain name that is included in a first zone, the first authoritative name server is associated with the first zone, and the second authoritative name server is associated with the first zone.

15. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein generating the DNS response comprises:

determining that the modified cache does not include a DNS record associated with the DNS query;

determining that the modified query rate prohibits the DNS query from being transmitted to the first authoritative name server; and

specifying a DNS return code that indicates a server error.

16. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein determining that the first authoritative name server is recovering from the degraded state comprises detecting an increase in a rate of positive DNS responses that are received from the first authoritative name server, wherein each positive DNS response includes a requested DNS record.

17. A system comprising:

a memory storing a resolution resiliency application; and

a processor that is coupled to the memory, wherein, when executed by the processor, the resolution resiliency application configures the processor to;

determine that a first authoritative name server has begun recovering from a degraded state or receive a flush list update from the first authoritative name server;

in response, perform one or more operations that modify at least one of a query rate specifying a frequency associated with DNS queries transmitted to the first authoritative name server and a cache storing one or more DNS records received from the first authoritative name server; and

generate a DNS response to a DNS query based on at least one of the modified query rate and the modified cache.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the resolution resiliency application configures the processor to perform the one or more operations by determining that a first DNS record included in the cache is included in the flush list update, and deleting the first DNS record from the cache.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the resolution resiliency application configures the processor to perform the one or more operations by computing the modified query rate based on an elapsed time between a current time and an initial recovery time associated with the degraded state.

20. The system of claim 17, wherein the resolution resiliency application configures the processor to generate the DNS response by:

determining that the modified cache does not include a DNS record associated with the DNS query;

determining that the modified query rate prohibits the DNS query from being transmitted to the first authoritative name server; and

transmitting the DNS query to a second authoritative name server.