84 lines
3.2 KiB
Markdown
84 lines
3.2 KiB
Markdown
# meshname
|
|
|
|
Special-use naming system for self-organized IPv6 mesh networks.
|
|
|
|
## Motivation
|
|
|
|
Having a naming system is a common requirement for deploying preexisting
|
|
decentralized applications. Protocols like e-mail, XMPP and ActivityPub require
|
|
domain names for server to server communications.
|
|
|
|
Self-organized networks like CJDNS and Yggdrasil Network use public-key
|
|
cryptography for IP address allocation. Every network node owns
|
|
a globally unique IPv6 address. Binary form of that address can be encoded with
|
|
base32 notation for deriving a globally unique name space managed by that node.
|
|
|
|
Since there is no need for a global authority or consensus, such a naming system
|
|
will reliably work in any network split scenarios.
|
|
|
|
".mesh.arpa" is meant to be used by machines, not by humans. A human-readable
|
|
naming system would require a lot more engineering effort.
|
|
|
|
## How .mesh.arpa domains work
|
|
|
|
Each mesh node can manage its own unique name space in "mesh.arpa." zone.
|
|
The name space is derived from its IPv6 address as follows:
|
|
|
|
1) IPv6 address is converted to its binary form of 16 bytes:
|
|
|
|
IPv6Address('200:6fc8:9220:f400:5cc2:305a:4ac6:967e')
|
|
|
|
b'\x02\x00o\xc8\x92 \xf4\x00\\\xc20ZJ\xc6\x96~'
|
|
|
|
2) The binary value is encoded to base32:
|
|
|
|
AIAG7SESED2AAXGCGBNEVRUWPY======
|
|
|
|
3) Padding symbols "======" are removed from the end of the string.
|
|
|
|
The resulting name space managed by '200:6fc8:9220:f400:5cc2:305a:4ac6:967e'
|
|
is "aiag7sesed2aaxgcgbnevruwpy.mesh.arpa."
|
|
|
|
In order to resolve a domain in "xxx.mesh.arpa." space, the client derives IPv6
|
|
address from the third level domain "xxx" and use it as authoritative DNS server
|
|
for that zone.
|
|
|
|
"xxx.mesh.arpa" name is itself managed by the DNS server derived from "xxx" and
|
|
can point to any other IPv6 address.
|
|
|
|
## Resolving process explained
|
|
|
|
1) A client application makes a request to a resolver.
|
|
I.e. request AAAA record for "test.aiag7sesed2aaxgcgbnevruwpy.mesh.arpa.".
|
|
|
|
2) When a resolver detects "mesh.arpa." domain, it extracts a third level
|
|
domain from it. In this example, "aiag7sesed2aaxgcgbnevruwpy.mesh.arpa.".
|
|
|
|
3) If the resolver is configured as an authoritative server for that
|
|
domain, it sends back a response as a regular DNS server would do.
|
|
|
|
4) If it's not, the resolver derives IPv6 address of the corresponding
|
|
authoritative DNS server from the third level domain.
|
|
For "aiag7sesed2aaxgcgbnevruwpy.mesh.arpa." the authoritative server is
|
|
"200:6fc8:9220:f400:5cc2:305a:4ac6:967e".
|
|
The resolver then relays clients request to a derived server address and
|
|
relays a response back to the client.
|
|
|
|
## Why not .ip6.arpa
|
|
|
|
There is a special domain for reverse DNS lookups, but it takes 72 characters to
|
|
store a single value. The same value in .mesh.arpa takes 36 characters.
|
|
|
|
"e.7.6.9.6.c.a.4.a.5.0.3.2.c.c.5.0.0.4.f.0.2.2.9.8.c.f.6.0.0.2.0.ip6.arpa"
|
|
versus "aiag7sesed2aaxgcgbnevruwpy.mesh.arpa."
|
|
|
|
This saves twice amount of bandwidth and storage space. It is also arguably more
|
|
aesthetically appealing, even though that's not a goal.
|
|
|
|
## Why .arpa
|
|
|
|
".arpa" is a special domain reserved for Internet infrastructure. There is a
|
|
similar special-use domain for home networks ".home.arpa" specified in RFC 8375.
|
|
If ".mesh.arpa" will become widely used it could also be standardized, otherwise
|
|
it won't break much.
|