How Sub Domains Work

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shiznatix
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How Sub Domains Work

Post by shiznatix »

Ok so I believe I know how domains work but I am having some questions about subdomains.

How I think domains work: Each domain gets an IP that is the real pointer of the website.

But with that, how would a subdomain work since it has to propagate through the DNS to get it to work? That does not make sense.

So could someone help me understand how all of this works so I don't just have to say 'its propagating'?
timvw
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Post by timvw »

They are all domains (so all the principles that apply for a domain that lives under a top-level domain apply to 'subdomains' too)

The following is quite informative: http://technet2.microsoft.com/windowsse ... ?mfr=true
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Jenk
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Post by Jenk »

site.. http://www.some.site.com

you paste that into your address bar -> DNS looks up "com" and asks it to resolve (via DNS) "site", site is then asked to resolve "some", some then asked to resolve "www"
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shiznatix
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Post by shiznatix »

ok i get it. that makes me a winner and winners win. thats why i just won. thanks for playing.
timvw
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Post by timvw »

Afaik that's not really how it's played... (i mean that the main difference is that in every query you request to resolve sub.domain.com, and not first .com, then domain.com and then sub.domain.com)


(1) first ask the com ns to resolve sub.domain.com
-> yes -> you get the ip
-> no -> com ns says you can ask domain.com to resolve it for your (or com ns could query domain.com and give you the result)

(2) you ask domain.com to resolve sub.domain.com
-> yes -> you get the ip
-> no -> domaincom ns says you can ask sub.domain.com to resolve it for your (or domain.com ns could query sub.domain.com and give you the result)


Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_nam ... _mechanism....
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Chris Corbyn
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Post by Chris Corbyn »

I know in my zone files for domain.tld I could instantly resolve some.really.stupid.sub.domain.tld without requiring that many queries.
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Jenk
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Post by Jenk »

I was talking in laymans terms :)
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