Introduction

A nameserver basically responds to a query. Interoperability is an obvious requirement here. The standard protocol behaviour of different DNS implementations is expected to be the same.

Requirements for protocol behaviour of DNS implementations is widely documented in the case of 'common' dns messages. The DNS protocol is over 20 years old and since its inception, there have been over 40 independent DNS implementations, while some implementations have over 20 versions.

The methodology used to identify individual nameserver implementations is based on "borderline" protocol behaviour. The DNS protocol offers a multitude of message bits, response types, opcodes, classes, query types and label types in a fashion that makes some mutually exclusive while some are not used in a query messages at all. Not every implementation offers the full set of features the DNS protocol set currently has. Some implementations offer features outside the protocol set, and there are implementations that do not conform to standards.

Also, new features added to - or bugs removed allow for differentiations between versions of an implementation.