January 13, 2004

VeriSign Inc. is planning changes to a Domain Name System (DNS) component responsible for coordinating updates to the .com and .net domains throughout the DNS system, according to a company spokesperson.

The changes are intended to prepare .com and .net for more frequent daily updates of information such as new subdomains, address changes and the culling out of obsolete subdomains. Internet users and organizations managing Web sites on .com and .net will not notice the change, VeriSign said.

However, some networking experts worry that the change, which is scheduled for Feb. 9, may have unanticipated consequences that could interrupt traffic to some .com and .net Web sites and other online services.

The modifications will change the way part of a DNS component called the Start of Authority (SOA) Record is generated for .com and .net domains, according to information posted to the Nanog networking discussion group by Matt Larson, of VeriSign Naming and Directory Services and confirmed by Pat Burns, a VeriSign spokesperson.

SOAs are used to manage DNS zones, areas of an Internet domain that are managed by a single DNS server. The records contain identifying information about the zone, such as the name of the primary DNS server for the zone, the e-mail address of the person responsible for the zone and a unique serial number that can be used to compare whether the zone information in one DNS server is newer or older than that managed by other, secondary servers.

Burns denied that VeriSign would be offering the more frequent updates as a paid service. "From our perspective, this is just a way to prepare to offer a more efficient domain name registration process," he said.

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