Hoosns: DNS Technical Features/Limitations

Hoosns is only a partial implementation of the DNS RFCs.

Here are some things Hoosns does do:

• Responds to client requests on UDP port 53.
• Parses a text file to discover IP/Name mappings.
• Answers A, AAAA and PTR requests that is knows about.

Here are some things Hoosns doesn't do:

• Has no comprehension of DNS Zones and therefore of the DNS namespace.
• Does not forward or recurse queries received from client resolvers.
• RRs cannot be dynamically updated.
• Does not support compression/encryption.

Here are some things I'd like Hoosns to do:

• Become recursive.
• Selectively forward domain names.
• Answer more than 1 request at a time (use TCP when required).

Hoosns isn't trying to be a Bind/Windows DNS replacement. It is only intended to be useful in small, often temporary labs where there is a mixture of operating systems and hosts are changed fairly frequently. Implementing a scripted "hosts" file solution could be one way of doing this, or configuring a "proper" DNS could be another. However, the ideal situation would to have a mixture of both. The simplicity of the hosts file, along with the centrality of a DNS server (running on XP).