Advanced DNS & Technical

Deep dives into DNSSEC, DNS failover, RDAP, EPP, and other advanced domain technologies.

For: Engineers and DevOps professionals

1

DNSSEC Deep Dive: Signing, Validation, and Troubleshooting

A complete technical walkthrough of DNSSEC: how zone signing works, the chain of trust, DS record delegation, and real-world troubleshooting with dig.

6 min read
2

DNS over HTTPS (DoH): How It Works

Understand DNS over HTTPS: how DoH wraps DNS queries in HTTPS, which resolvers support it, browser vs. OS implementation, and privacy trade-offs.

4 min read
3

DNS over TLS (DoT): Privacy-First Resolution

DNS over TLS explained: port 853, how DoT differs from DoH, Android Private DNS setup, server configuration with Unbound, and performance considerations.

3 min read
4

EPP Protocol: How Registrars Communicate

Inside the Extensible Provisioning Protocol: how registrars talk to registries, the EPP command lifecycle, XML sessions, and what the EPP auth code really is.

4 min read
5

RDAP: The Modern WHOIS Replacement

RDAP explained: how the Registration Data Access Protocol replaces WHOIS with structured JSON responses, authentication, and privacy-aware data access.

3 min read
6

Zone Files: Structure and Management

Master DNS zone file syntax: SOA, NS, A, MX, TXT, CNAME records, TTL directives, $ORIGIN, $INCLUDE, and best practices for zone file version control.

4 min read
7

Anycast DNS: How Global DNS Networks Work

Anycast DNS explained: BGP-based IP routing, how Cloudflare and root servers use anycast for resilience, latency benefits, and trade-offs for DNS operators.

4 min read
8

DNS Failover and Load Balancing

How DNS-based failover and load balancing work: health checks, round-robin, weighted routing, active-passive failover, and latency-based routing in Route 53.

4 min read
9

GeoDNS: Location-Based DNS Routing

GeoDNS explained: how DNS servers route traffic based on client IP geolocation, EDNS Client Subnet, GeoIP databases, and multi-CDN traffic management.

4 min read
10

Glue Records: When Your NS Lives in Your Zone

Glue records demystified: what they are, why circular DNS delegation requires them, how to check glue at registries, and troubleshooting missing glue.

4 min read
11

Running Your Own DNS Server: BIND vs PowerDNS

How to run your own authoritative DNS server: BIND 9 vs PowerDNS compared, installation, zone configuration, DNSSEC signing, and hardening for production.

4 min read
12

DNS Security Extensions: Chain of Trust

How DNSSEC builds a cryptographic chain of trust from the root zone to your domain: trust anchors, DS records, KSK and ZSK hierarchy, and what breaks the chain.

5 min read
13

Wildcard DNS Records: Use Cases and Risks

Wildcard DNS records: how *.example.com works, SaaS tenant subdomains, catch-all email, DNSSEC interaction, and security risks including subdomain takeover.

4 min read
14

SOA Records: Zone Authority Configuration

SOA records deep dive: all seven fields, serial number strategies, optimal refresh/retry/expire values, negative cache TTL tuning, and common misconfigurations.

5 min read
15

DNS Performance Optimization at Scale

DNS performance at scale: TTL strategy, resolver caching, anycast PoP selection, EDNS0, DoH connection reuse, Prometheus monitoring, and dnsperf benchmarking.

6 min read