The idea is (see the penultimate line in prior message) for the 44rf.net DNS to not be recursive, but just provide referrals.

The point is to have access to other domains (at least DNS lookup) outside of 44.24.240.0/20, in situations where Internet access isn't available.  Now, admittedly the probability of that is low, and probably even lower that if Internet access wasn't available, that 44.x.x.x addresses outside of 44.24.240.0/20 served up by 44rf.net servers would be accessible (ie, that you'd have network connectivity to those addresses).  But, it's cheap experiment.  Opinions as to why this might be a dumb idea, are accepted ...

Further, getting the domain allowed me to find out that my domain (EnCirca) registrar, which used to be competent, is now completely and utterly incompetent.  I will be transferring my ten domains to another registrar, as soon as I've found one at a competitive price that provides DNS servers that can be used as slaves to a customer master DNS machine.  Previously, I used DomainMonger, which provided this capability for years, but their prices seem a little high.  EnCirca has it, but alas, something is wrong there, as I have had over a dozen eMails back and forth over the last two days, just to get capability working again that worked a year ago.

Yes, I wouldn't mind a delegation of ae7q.hamwan.net.  Question:  would that allow me to make changes on my own, or can I do that myself after delegation is set up?  With BIND, there are two ways to do it:
  1. Actual delegation (a separate zone with a separate nameserver, maintained on my server).
  2. Where the subdomains are maintained on the main domain's DNS server, and the DDNS (restricted to modifications that match a subdomain pattern) is used to modify the zone.
I was planning on offering both for 44rf.net.

In a later message I'll discuss my request to Brian Kantor for subdomain delegation, and his response.

On 2014-04-10 23:19, Bart Kus wrote:
I don't get the point of a recursive DNS server that by default doesn't resolve the Internet.

Also, we offer recursive DNS services already on 44.24.244.1 and 44.24.245.1.  These include recursive services for *.HamWAN.net in the absence of root servers, as well as reverse DNS for our IP ranges, also available in the absence of root servers.  The access to the recursive services is limited to 44-net clients.

On the authoritative side, we're happy to delegate sub-zones.  *.AE7Q.HamWAN.net for example can be delegated.

While Brian does offer some support for DNS on ampr.org, but I do think AMPR needs to support reverse DNS delegation.  And DNSSEC.  I'm not sure why delegations aren't allowed.  I know it's come up before.

--Bart

On 4/10/2014 10:21 PM, Dean Gibson AE7Q wrote:
Two days ago I obtained domain 44rf.net, for the sole purpose of supporting amateurs on 44.x.x.x which need more subdomain support than ampr.org provides (ie, none; Brian Kantor will not allow NS records in ampr.org).  It's trivial to allow subdomains of 44rf.net which users can self-manage, without screwing up the parent domain (volunteers/testers welcome).  And, with the use of stub zones, I support (present tense) referrals to ampr.org, hamwan.net, and other domains in a situation where the root servers are not available.  Eg:

>dig @ns1.ae7q.ampr.org db0bi.ampr.org
; <<>> DiG 9.2.4 <<>> @ns1.ae7q.ampr.org   db0bi.ampr.org
 ; (1 server found)
 ;; global options:  printcmd
 ;; Got answer:
 ;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 55750
 ;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 1, AUTHORITY: 7, ADDITIONAL: 10
;; QUESTION SECTION:
 ;db0bi.ampr.org.                        IN      A
;; ANSWER SECTION:
 db0bi.ampr.org.         3568    IN      A       44.225.61.14
;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
 ampr.org.               3568    IN      NS      hamradio.ucsd.edu.
 ampr.org.               3568    IN      NS      ns0.comgw.net.
 ampr.org.               3568    IN      NS      ns1.defaultroute.net.
 ampr.org.               3568    IN      NS      ns2.threshinc.com.
 ampr.org.               3568    IN      NS      ampr.org.
 ampr.org.               3568    IN      NS      munnari.OZ.AU.
 ampr.org.               3568    IN      NS      ampr-dns.in-berlin.de.
;; ADDITIONAL SECTION:
 ns1.defaultroute.net.   172764  IN      A       74.120.14.69
 ns2.threshinc.com.      3564    IN      A       192.41.222.8
 ns2.threshinc.com.      172764  IN      AAAA    2604:5000:0:2::2
 ampr.org.               3568    IN      A       44.0.0.1
 munnari.OZ.AU.          14365   IN      A       202.29.151.3
 munnari.OZ.AU.          86364   IN      AAAA    2001:3c8:9007:1::21
 munnari.OZ.AU.          86364   IN      AAAA    2001:3c8:9009:181::2
 ampr-dns.in-berlin.de.  864     IN      A       192.109.42.4
 ampr-dns.in-berlin.de.  864     IN      AAAA    2a01:238:4073:e600::1
 hamradio.ucsd.edu.      43164   IN      A       169.228.66.6
;; Query time: 253 msec
 ;; SERVER: 44.24.240.173#53(44.24.240.173)
 ;; WHEN: Thu Apr 10 20:10:06 2014
 ;; MSG SIZE  rcvd: 452

>dig @ns1.ae7q.ampr.org  a.ns.hamwan.net

; <<>> DiG 9.2.4 <<>> @ns1.ae7q.ampr.org a.ns.hamwan.net
; (1 server found)
;; global options:  printcmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 46457
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 1, AUTHORITY: 2, ADDITIONAL: 0

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;a.ns.hamwan.net.               IN      A

;; ANSWER SECTION:
a.ns.hamwan.net.        3600    IN      A       44.24.244.2

;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
hamwan.net.             172800  IN      NS      a.ns.hamwan.net.
hamwan.net.             172800  IN      NS      b.ns.hamwan.net.

;; Query time: 499 msec
;; SERVER: 44.24.240.173#53(44.24.240.173)
;; WHEN: Thu Apr 10 20:31:47 2014
;; MSG SIZE  rcvd: 79

However, notice what happens when I access a domain for which I do not have a stub zone declaration:

>dig @ns1.ae7q.ampr.org  www.hamwan.org


; <<>> DiG 9.2.4 <<>> @ns1.ae7q.ampr.org www.hamwan.org
; (1 server found)
;; global options:  printcmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 24283
;; flags: qr rd; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 0, AUTHORITY: 13, ADDITIONAL: 0

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;www.hamwan.org.                        IN      A

;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
.                       518400  IN      NS      I.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.
.                       518400  IN      NS      J.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.
.                       518400  IN      NS      K.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.
.                       518400  IN      NS      L.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.
.                       518400  IN      NS      M.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.
.                       518400  IN      NS      A.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.
.                       518400  IN      NS      B.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.
.                       518400  IN      NS      C.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.
.                       518400  IN      NS      D.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.
.                       518400  IN      NS      E.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.
.                       518400  IN      NS      F.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.
.                       518400  IN      NS      G.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.
.                       518400  IN      NS      H.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.

;; Query time: 258 msec
;; SERVER: 44.24.240.173#53(44.24.240.173)
;; WHEN: Thu Apr 10 22:11:09 2014
;; MSG SIZE  rcvd: 243

That is, ns1.ae7q.ampr.org does not function as a general-purpose recursive DNS server.

Now, if someone else is already doing this ... let me know.