5 ms·

Maybe someone should standardize internal TLD(s) for corporate and other use cases that would make developers less sad, as at least they have alternatives.

phs318u 10y ago
.local ? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/.local https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/.local
- ibotty 10y ago
  Unfortunately that is less and less possible due to multicast DNS which hijacked that TLD.
  - m_eiman 10y ago
    Isn't .private reserved?
    - josegonzalez 10y ago
      Yes, but that just means they can decide to do something special with it in the future, not that you can use it for your own purposes.
- jabl 10y ago
  Like the linked wikipedia article says, .local is used by mDNS(zeroconf/bonjour/avahi/etc.), so you might see weird stuff if you use it for a "normal" DNS environment. AFAICT current "best practice" for private networks is to use a private subdomain of your real domain. Say, .internal.example.com.
  - tokenizerrr 10y ago
    Google registered the .dev gTLD for their internal use. So I've been doing the same, hijacking all requests for the .dev gTLD and serving up my own zones.
    - noinsight 10y ago
      Google has both .dev and .prod.
    - parenthephobia 10y ago
      That's fine until Google buys your company. :)
      - tokenizerrr 10y ago
        I am willing to take that risk. :)
      - paulddraper 10y ago
        I will not be that sad.
  - darfs 10y ago
    That's why i use sometimes simply .loc.. :)
    - tokenizerrr 10y ago
      The annoying part is that Chrome treats valid (g)TLDs differently. If you type test.dev in your browser it will try to resolve test.dev. But if you type test.loc, it will google for test.loc. There are a lot of workarounds sure, but try explaining that to everyone else.
  - amyjess 10y ago
    FYI, some Linux distributions default to .localdomain instead. But for my machines, I just use a domain that I own.
- DiabloD3 10y ago
  .local is for mdns only. I've been using .lan instead for locally poisoned DNS entries (in my case, dnsmasq being both DNS server and dhcpd to make it easy).
- lambda 10y ago
  No, absolutely not. If people choose that for a local domain, that breaks mDNS.
- WorldMaker 10y ago
  It would be great if mDNS was reliable enough that you wouldn't need to hack together a private DNS in most cases.
tominous 10y ago
Before the gTLDs were expanded it was easy: just choose an unused word. These days I tend to see either subdomains of the main public domain, or a public domain registered solely for internal use.
- josegonzalez 10y ago
  The proper way to do it, though it does mean that things such as using ssl for wildcard domains at an arbitrary level become difficult and potentially expensive.
  - parenthephobia 10y ago
    If they're internal domains you can run your own CA. No need to use wildcard certs or pay anything at all.
- Symbiote 10y ago
  Are there any reasons not to use a real domain?
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
y0ghur7_xxx 10y ago
I agree with you. There should exist a standardized tld for internal networks that we can use and be sure that no one else has control over. Buying a domain and use a subdomain of that one is not a good workaround. .internal would be nice and is not used by now. I may go write an rfc now :) related discussion: http://serverfault.com/questions/17255/top-level-domain-domain-suffix-for-private-network http://serverfault.com/questions/17255/top-level-domain-doma...
- yrro 10y ago
  What happens as soon as two different organizations want to connect their networks together and they both turn otu to be using the same hijacked TLD? Use a real domain name instead.
  - y0ghur7_xxx 10y ago
    > What happens as soon as two different organizations want to connect their networks together and they both turn otu to be using the same hijacked TLD? Why "hijacked" TLD? It would be a standard TLD. If two orgs merge, and they both happen to use the same hostnames for some things, like say git.internal, they just refactor those hosts, or merge them since they merge.
    - parenthephobia 10y ago
      It is not usually as easy as you suggest to just merge or refactor conflicting domains. Even if you're lucky, and it is git.internal - rather than source.internal with VSS on one and ClearCase on the other - there may be conflicting repository names. These'll be configured on developer's PCs, CI servers, automated deployment scripts. And that's just one domain name. That's potentially a lot of work to connect two organizations: who may well not be connecting because of a merger - they may simply be contractors. If ABC Corp and XZY Corp had their local stuff on internal.abc.com and internal.xyz.com, then all their old domains - and urls - keep working after they connect their networks. Whether and when to merge their services together becomes a decision based on the merits of each merge, rather than something that is forced because they choose a bad naming scheme.
hlandau 10y ago
Presumably single-letter TLDs will never be allocated. So you could allocate yourself one of those. Or maybe something with hyphens in not beginning with xn--.

phs318u 10y ago

.local ? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/.local https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/.local

ibotty 10y ago
Unfortunately that is less and less possible due to multicast DNS which hijacked that TLD.
- m_eiman 10y ago
  Isn't .private reserved?
  - josegonzalez 10y ago
    Yes, but that just means they can decide to do something special with it in the future, not that you can use it for your own purposes.
jabl 10y ago
Like the linked wikipedia article says, .local is used by mDNS(zeroconf/bonjour/avahi/etc.), so you might see weird stuff if you use it for a "normal" DNS environment. AFAICT current "best practice" for private networks is to use a private subdomain of your real domain. Say, .internal.example.com.
- tokenizerrr 10y ago
  Google registered the .dev gTLD for their internal use. So I've been doing the same, hijacking all requests for the .dev gTLD and serving up my own zones.
  - noinsight 10y ago
    Google has both .dev and .prod.
  - parenthephobia 10y ago
    That's fine until Google buys your company. :)
    - tokenizerrr 10y ago
      I am willing to take that risk. :)
    - paulddraper 10y ago
      I will not be that sad.
- darfs 10y ago
  That's why i use sometimes simply .loc.. :)
  - tokenizerrr 10y ago
    The annoying part is that Chrome treats valid (g)TLDs differently. If you type test.dev in your browser it will try to resolve test.dev. But if you type test.loc, it will google for test.loc. There are a lot of workarounds sure, but try explaining that to everyone else.
- amyjess 10y ago
  FYI, some Linux distributions default to .localdomain instead. But for my machines, I just use a domain that I own.
DiabloD3 10y ago
.local is for mdns only. I've been using .lan instead for locally poisoned DNS entries (in my case, dnsmasq being both DNS server and dhcpd to make it easy).
lambda 10y ago
No, absolutely not. If people choose that for a local domain, that breaks mDNS.
WorldMaker 10y ago
It would be great if mDNS was reliable enough that you wouldn't need to hack together a private DNS in most cases.

tominous 10y ago

Before the gTLDs were expanded it was easy: just choose an unused word. These days I tend to see either subdomains of the main public domain, or a public domain registered solely for internal use.

josegonzalez 10y ago
The proper way to do it, though it does mean that things such as using ssl for wildcard domains at an arbitrary level become difficult and potentially expensive.
- parenthephobia 10y ago
  If they're internal domains you can run your own CA. No need to use wildcard certs or pay anything at all.
Symbiote 10y ago
Are there any reasons not to use a real domain?

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

y0ghur7_xxx 10y ago

I agree with you. There should exist a standardized tld for internal networks that we can use and be sure that no one else has control over. Buying a domain and use a subdomain of that one is not a good workaround. .internal would be nice and is not used by now. I may go write an rfc now :) related discussion: http://serverfault.com/questions/17255/top-level-domain-domain-suffix-for-private-network http://serverfault.com/questions/17255/top-level-domain-doma...

yrro 10y ago
What happens as soon as two different organizations want to connect their networks together and they both turn otu to be using the same hijacked TLD? Use a real domain name instead.
- y0ghur7_xxx 10y ago
  > What happens as soon as two different organizations want to connect their networks together and they both turn otu to be using the same hijacked TLD? Why "hijacked" TLD? It would be a standard TLD. If two orgs merge, and they both happen to use the same hostnames for some things, like say git.internal, they just refactor those hosts, or merge them since they merge.
  - parenthephobia 10y ago
    It is not usually as easy as you suggest to just merge or refactor conflicting domains. Even if you're lucky, and it is git.internal - rather than source.internal with VSS on one and ClearCase on the other - there may be conflicting repository names. These'll be configured on developer's PCs, CI servers, automated deployment scripts. And that's just one domain name. That's potentially a lot of work to connect two organizations: who may well not be connecting because of a merger - they may simply be contractors. If ABC Corp and XZY Corp had their local stuff on internal.abc.com and internal.xyz.com, then all their old domains - and urls - keep working after they connect their networks. Whether and when to merge their services together becomes a decision based on the merits of each merge, rather than something that is forced because they choose a bad naming scheme.

hlandau 10y ago

Presumably single-letter TLDs will never be allocated. So you could allocate yourself one of those. Or maybe something with hyphens in not beginning with xn--.