CGHMN DNS Information
About this page
This page exists to document information about the DNS of CGHMN, and some of the complexities that comes with a DNS infrastructure made of up varying platforms across decades of the protocol's evolution. See CGHMN-Demo-Network for detailed information about the underlying infrastructure
DNS Configuration Guide
Getting Started
Pointing to the right DNS server
CGHMN has several DNS servers in use for differing purposes. The correct default DNS server you should be pointing at while getting started is 172.23.0.1. This is the router, which then forwards the requests to the actual DNS.
What the different DNS servers are (or, is this thing on?)
CGHMN's DNS is configured such that there are three core servers that perform response modifications to allow the recreation of long defunct services, perform lookups, and act as the root name server for the network, which has two internal TLD (top level domain, like .com or .net) on it.
172.23.4.101 - ns1.cghmn
This is the root name server for the .retro and .cghmn TLDs, as well as the 23.172.in-addr.arpa and 96.100.in-addr.arpa reverse lookup zones. This server exists to delegate domains to members of CGHMN, and serve as the name server for the internal network. This server is useful to perform a dig or nslookup against if you want to see if a subdomain has been delegated, for example:
dig ns example.retro. @172.23.4.101
or
nslookup > server 172.23.4.101 > set type=ns > example.retro.
This server does not perform lookups. It is currently running BIND.
172.23.4.105
This is the recursive lookup server for the network. It is configured to recursively look up all requests for CGHMN domains, starting with ns1.cghmn, and then moving up based on delegations to member servers. Regular lookups still take place against real TLDs, if something needs to be pulled off the internet. This server is currently running BIND. This server is useful to use dig or nslookup against if you wish to see if your domain is resolving on the network after it has been delegated to you.
dig a test.example.retro. @172.23.4.105
or
nslookup > server 172.23.4.105 > set type=a > test.example.retro.
172.23.4.104 - legacydns.cghmhn
This is a dnsmasq server that is currently being used to perform modifications to DNS answers, by pulling from a list of servers that need to be faked in order to make old software, such as AIM, work correctly. This server overrides the DNS answer with these responses, so all relevant DNS records need to be added. Please ask if there is a service you would like added to the network that requires this kind of override. Otherwise, it just forwards the questions to the recursive lookup server 172.23.4.105. This server is useful to test against if you are having trouble connecting to a legacy service that utilizes hard coded DNS.
dig cname login.oscar.aol.com.
or
nslookup > server 172.23.4.104 > set type=cname > login.oscar.aol.com.
172.23.0.1
This is the core router for the network, which also serves as a DNS forwarding. It is currently forwarding all traffic to legacydns.cghmn, and performs no additional lookups or translation. This server is useful to test against for any purpose.