Path: utzoo!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!asp
From: asp@uunet.UU.NET (Andrew Partan)
Newsgroups: comp.protocols.tcp-ip.domains
Subject: Re: Pros and cons of secondary name servers off site
Message-ID: <124895@uunet.UU.NET>
Date: 8 Mar 91 03:07:22 GMT
References: <910306.205519z.05578.wales@valeria.cs.ucla.edu>
Distribution: inet
Organization: UUNET Communications Services, Falls Church, VA
Lines: 13

In article <910306.205519z.05578.wales@valeria.cs.ucla.edu>, wales@CS.UCLA.EDU (Rich Wales) writes:
> ... why bother with off-site backup name service?

If you do not have a reachable nameserver, then when some host tries to
get some information on your domain, it will get back something like
'host unknown' or 'no such host' or 'no information'.

On the other hand, if just your net is unreachable, then the host will get 
back the correct info, and when it tries to use it will get 'host
unreachable' or 'net unreachable' - things that are a lot more tractible
to deal with than the absence of any information.

	--asp@uunet.uu.net (Andrew Partan)