YANG DNS Types: YANG Types for DNS Classes and Resource Record Types
Two DNS registries, DNS CLASSes and RR TYPEs, translated into reusable YANG types.
Lhotka, L. and P. Špaček, "YANG Types for DNS Classes and Resource Record Types", RFC 9108, DOI 10.17487/RFC9108, September 2021, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc9108>.
@misc{rfc9108,
series = {Request for Comments},
number = 9108,
howpublished = {RFC 9108},
publisher = {RFC Editor},
doi = {10.17487/RFC9108},
url = {https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc9108},
author = {L. Lhotka and P. Špaček},
title = {{YANG Types for DNS Classes and Resource Record Types}},
pagetotal = 14,
year = 2021,
month = sep,
} RFC text
Contents
Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) L. Lhotka
Request for Comments: 9108 CZ.NIC
Category: Standards Track P. Špaček
ISSN: 2070-1721 Internet Systems Consortium
September 2021
YANG Types for DNS Classes and Resource Record Types
Abstract
This document introduces the YANG module "iana-dns-class-rr-type",
which contains derived types reflecting two IANA registries: DNS
CLASSes and Resource Record (RR) TYPEs. These YANG types are
intended as the minimum basis for future data modeling work.
Status of This Memo
This is an Internet Standards Track document.
This document is a product of the Internet Engineering Task Force
(IETF). It represents the consensus of the IETF community. It has
received public review and has been approved for publication by the
Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG). Further information on
Internet Standards is available in Section 2 of RFC 7841.
Information about the current status of this document, any errata,
and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at
https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc9108.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (c) 2021 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
document authors. All rights reserved.
This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
Provisions Relating to IETF Documents
(https://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of
publication of this document. Please review these documents
carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect
to this document. Code Components extracted from this document must
include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of
the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as
described in the Simplified BSD License.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Terminology
3. YANG Design Considerations
4. IANA Considerations
4.1. URI Registrations
4.2. YANG Module Registrations
5. Security Considerations
6. References
6.1. Normative References
6.2. Informative References
Appendix A. XSLT Stylesheet
Authors' Addresses
1. Introduction
YANG [RFC7950] has become a de facto standard as a language for
modeling configuration and state data, as well as specifying
management operations and asynchronous notifications. It is
reasonable to expect that the approach based on utilizing such data
models along with standard management protocols such as
NETCONF [RFC6241] and RESTCONF [RFC8040] can be effectively used in
DNS operations, too. In fact, several efforts are currently underway
that attempt to use NETCONF or RESTCONF for configuring and managing
* authoritative servers,
* resolvers, and
* zone data.
While it is possible to use the management protocols mentioned above
with ad hoc or proprietary data models, their real potential can be
realized only if there is a (completely or partly) unified data model
supported by multiple DNS software implementations. Operators can
then, for instance, run several DNS server implementations in
parallel, and use a common configuration and management interface and
data for all of them. Also, it becomes considerably easier to
migrate to another implementation.
Based on the previous experience from the IETF Routing Area, it is to
be expected that the development of unified data models for DNS will
be a lengthy and complicated process that will require active
cooperation and compromise from the vendors and developers of major
DNS server platforms. Nevertheless, it is likely that any DNS-
related data modeling effort will need to use various DNS parameters
and enumerations that are specified in several IANA registries. For
use with YANG, these parameters and enumerations have to be
translated into corresponding YANG types or other structures. Such
translations should be straightforward and relatively
uncontroversial.
This document provides a translation of two fundamental DNS-related
IANA registries to YANG. It contains the initial version of the YANG
module "iana-dns-class-rr-type", which defines derived types for the
common parameters of DNS resource records (RR): class and type.
These YANG types, "dns-class" and "rr-type", reflect the IANA
registries "DNS CLASSes" and "Resource Record (RR) TYPEs"
[IANA-DNS-PARAMETERS].
Appendix A contains an XSLT 1.0 stylesheet that is intended to be
used by IANA for generating the initial version of the "iana-dns-
class-rr-type" YANG module. Subsequently, whenever a new class or RR
type is added to the above registries, IANA will also update the
"iana-dns-class-rr-type" YANG module, following the instructions in
Section 4 below.
2. Terminology
The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
"SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "NOT RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and
"OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in
BCP 14 [RFC2119] [RFC8174] when, and only when, they appear in all
capitals, as shown here.
The terminology for describing YANG data models can be found in
[RFC7950]. DNS terminology used in this document can be found in
[RFC1035] and [RFC8499].
3. YANG Design Considerations
At the time of writing, the "Domain Name System (DNS) Parameters"
[IANA-DNS-PARAMETERS] contains altogether thirteen registries. The
YANG module "iana-dns-class-rr-type" defines derived types
corresponding to only two of the registries that are essential for
data models involving zone data, namely "DNS CLASSes" and "Resource
Record (RR) TYPEs". It is expected that the remaining registries in
[IANA-DNS-PARAMETERS], as well as other DNS-related IANA registries,
will be analogously reflected in future YANG modules as necessary.
This way, an appropriate combination of YANG modules can be chosen
depending on which YANG types are needed for a given data modeling
purpose.
The registries "DNS CLASSes" and "Resource Record (RR) TYPEs" are
transformed into YANG enumeration types "dns-class-name" and "rr-
type-name", respectively. This is the initial fragment of the
former:
typedef dns-class-name {
type enumeration {
enum IN {
value 1;
description
"Internet (IN)";
reference
"RFC 1035";
}
...
}
...
}
The other derived type, "rr-type-name", is defined similarly.
[RFC3597] introduced the option of specifying a class or RR type via
its assigned decimal number as an alternative to the mnemonic name.
For example, the "IN" class can be equivalently written as "CLASS1",
and "AAAA" type can be written as "TYPE28".
Accordingly, the derived types "dns-class" and "rr-type" are defined
in the YANG module as a union of two member types:
* 16-bit decimal integer ("uint16")
* mnemonic name belonging to the enumerations "dns-class-name" and
"rr-type-name", respectively.
For instance, the "rr-type" type is defined as follows:
typedef rr-type {
type union {
type uint16;
type rr-type-name;
}
description
"This type allows reference to a DNS resource record type
using either the assigned mnemonic name or numeric value.";
}
As unassigned and reserved class and RR type values are not included
in the mnemonic name enumerations, they can only be specified using
their decimal values.
4. IANA Considerations
This section deals with actions and processes necessary for IANA to
undertake to maintain the "iana-dns-class-rr-type" YANG module. This
YANG module is intended to reflect the "DNS CLASSes" and "Resource
Record (RR) TYPEs" registries in [IANA-DNS-PARAMETERS]. The most
recent version of the YANG module is available from the "YANG
Parameters" registry [IANA-YANG-PARAMETERS].
With the publication of this document, IANA has created and posted
the initial version of the "iana-dns-class-rr-type" YANG module by
applying the XSLT stylesheet from Appendix A to the XML version of
[IANA-DNS-PARAMETERS].
IANA has added this note to the "iana-dns-class-rr-type" item of the
"YANG Module Names" registry [IANA-YANG-PARAMETERS]:
| Classes and types of DNS resource records must not be directly
| added to the "iana-dns-class-rr-type" YANG module. They must
| instead be added to the "DNS CLASSes" and "Resource Record (RR)
| TYPEs" registries, respectively.
When a new DNS class or RR type is added to the "DNS CLASSes" or
"Resource Record (RR) TYPEs" registry, a new "enum" statement SHALL
be added to the "dns-class-name" or "rr-type-name" type,
respectively. The assigned name defined by the "enum" statement
SHALL be the same as the mnemonic name of the new class or type. The
following substatements to the "enum" statement SHALL be defined:
"value": Use the decimal value from the registry.
"status": Include only if a class or type registration has been
deprecated or obsoleted. IANA "deprecated" maps to
YANG status "deprecated", and IANA "obsolete" maps to
YANG status "obsolete".
"description": Replicate the corresponding information from the
registry, namely the full name of the new DNS class,
or the meaning of the new RR type, if any.
"reference": Replicate the reference(s) from the registry.
Unassigned or reserved values SHALL NOT be included in the "dns-
class-name" and "rr-type-name" enumeration types.
Each time the "iana-dns-class-rr-type" YANG module is updated, a new
"revision" statement SHALL be added before the existing "revision"
statements.
IANA has added this note to the "DNS CLASSes" and "Resource Record
(RR) TYPEs" registries:
| When this registry is modified, the YANG module "iana-dns-class-
| rr-type" must be updated as defined in [RFC9108].
The "Reference" text in the "DNS CLASSes" registry has been updated
as follows:
OLD:
| [RFC6895]
NEW:
| [RFC6895][RFC9108]
The "Reference" text in the "Resource Record (RR) TYPEs" registry has
been updated as follows:
OLD:
| [RFC6895][RFC1035]
NEW:
| [RFC6895][RFC1035][RFC9108]
4.1. URI Registrations
This document registers a URI in the "IETF XML Registry" [RFC3688].
The following registration has been made:
URI: urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:yang:iana-dns-class-rr-type
Registrant Contact: The IESG.
XML: N/A; the requested URI is an XML namespace.
4.2. YANG Module Registrations
This document registers a YANG module in the "YANG Module Names"
registry [RFC6020]. The following registration has been made:
Name: iana-dns-class-rr-type
Namespace: urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:yang:iana-dns-class-rr-type
Prefix: dnsct
Reference: RFC 9108
5. Security Considerations
This document translates two IANA registries into YANG data types and
otherwise introduces no technology or protocol. The definitions
themselves have no security impact on the Internet, but their use in
concrete YANG modules might have. The security considerations
spelled out in the YANG specification [RFC7950] apply to this
document as well.
6. References
6.1. Normative References
[IANA-DNS-PARAMETERS]
IANA, "Domain Name System (DNS) Parameters",
<https://www.iana.org/assignments/dns-parameters>.
[IANA-YANG-PARAMETERS]
IANA, "YANG Parameters",
<https://www.iana.org/assignments/yang-parameters>.
[RFC2119] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119,
DOI 10.17487/RFC2119, March 1997,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2119>.
[RFC3688] Mealling, M., "The IETF XML Registry", BCP 81, RFC 3688,
DOI 10.17487/RFC3688, January 2004,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc3688>.
[RFC6020] Bjorklund, M., Ed., "YANG - A Data Modeling Language for
the Network Configuration Protocol (NETCONF)", RFC 6020,
DOI 10.17487/RFC6020, October 2010,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6020>.
[RFC7950] Bjorklund, M., Ed., "The YANG 1.1 Data Modeling Language",
RFC 7950, DOI 10.17487/RFC7950, August 2016,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7950>.
[RFC8174] Leiba, B., "Ambiguity of Uppercase vs Lowercase in RFC
2119 Key Words", BCP 14, RFC 8174, DOI 10.17487/RFC8174,
May 2017, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8174>.
[W3C.REC-xslt-19991116]
Clark, J., "XSL Transformations (XSLT) Version 1.0", W3C
Recommendation REC-xslt-19991116, November 1999,
<https://www.w3.org/TR/1999/REC-xslt-19991116>.
6.2. Informative References
[RFC1035] Mockapetris, P., "Domain names - implementation and
specification", STD 13, RFC 1035, DOI 10.17487/RFC1035,
November 1987, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc1035>.
[RFC3597] Gustafsson, A., "Handling of Unknown DNS Resource Record
(RR) Types", RFC 3597, DOI 10.17487/RFC3597, September
2003, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc3597>.
[RFC6241] Enns, R., Ed., Bjorklund, M., Ed., Schoenwaelder, J., Ed.,
and A. Bierman, Ed., "Network Configuration Protocol
(NETCONF)", RFC 6241, DOI 10.17487/RFC6241, June 2011,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6241>.
[RFC8040] Bierman, A., Bjorklund, M., and K. Watsen, "RESTCONF
Protocol", RFC 8040, DOI 10.17487/RFC8040, January 2017,
<https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8040>.
[RFC8499] Hoffman, P., Sullivan, A., and K. Fujiwara, "DNS
Terminology", BCP 219, RFC 8499, DOI 10.17487/RFC8499,
January 2019, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8499>.
Appendix A. XSLT Stylesheet
This appendix contains an XSLT 1.0 stylesheet [W3C.REC-xslt-19991116]
that is to be used to generate the initial revision of the "iana-dns-
class-rr-type" YANG module. This is achieved by applying the
stylesheet to the XML version of the IANA registry "Domain Name
System (DNS) Parameters" [IANA-DNS-PARAMETERS] that was current at
the time this document was published.
Using the ubiquitous xsltproc tool, the YANG module text can be
generated with this command:
$ xsltproc iana-dns-class-rr-type.xsl dns-parameters.xml
<CODE BEGINS> file "iana-dns-class-rr-type.xsl"
<?xml version="1.0" standalone="yes"?>
<stylesheet xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"
xmlns:iana="http://www.iana.org/assignments"
version="1.0">
<output method="text"/>
<strip-space elements="*"/>
<variable name="dq">"</variable>
<variable name="sq">'</variable>
<variable name="module-intro">
<text>module iana-dns-class-rr-type {
yang-version 1.1;
namespace
"urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:yang:iana-dns-class-rr-type";
prefix dnsct;
organization
"Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA)";
contact
" Internet Assigned Numbers Authority
Postal: ICANN
12025 Waterfront Drive, Suite 300
Los Angeles, CA 90094
Tel: +1 424 254 5300
<mailto:iana@iana.org>";
description
"This YANG module translates IANA registries 'DNS CLASSes' and
'Resource Record (RR) TYPEs' to YANG-derived types.
Copyright (c) 2021 IETF Trust and the persons identified as
authors of the code. All rights reserved.
Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or
without modification, is permitted pursuant to, and subject to
the license terms contained in, the Simplified BSD License set
forth in Section 4.c of the IETF Trust's Legal Provisions
Relating to IETF Documents
(https://trustee.ietf.org/license-info).
This version of this YANG module was generated from
the corresponding IANA registries using an XSLT stylesheet
from Appendix A of RFC 9108
(https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc9108); see the RFC itself
for full legal notices.";
reference
"IANA 'Domain Name System (DNS) Parameters' registry
https://www.iana.org/assignments/dns-parameters";</text>
<text>

</text>
</variable>
<template name="enum">
<param name="id"/>
<value-of select="concat(' enum ', $id)"/>
<text> {
 value </text>
<value-of select="concat(iana:value, ';
')"/>
<if test="contains(iana:description, 'OBSOLETE')">
<text> status obsolete;
</text>
</if>
<apply-templates select="iana:description"/>
<variable name="xrefs" select="iana:xref[@type!='note']"/>
<if test="$xrefs">
<text> reference
 "</text>
<if test="count($xrefs)>1">- </if>
<apply-templates select="iana:xref[@type!='note']"/>
</if>
<text> }
</text>
</template>
<template match="/">
<value-of select="$module-intro"/>
<apply-templates select="iana:registry[@id='dns-parameters']"/>
<text>}
</text>
</template>
<template match="iana:registry[@id='dns-parameters']">
<apply-templates select="iana:updated"/>
<apply-templates
select="iana:registry[@id='dns-parameters-2']"/>
<apply-templates
select="iana:registry[@id='dns-parameters-4']"/>
</template>
<template match="iana:updated">
<value-of select="concat(' revision ', ., ' {')"/>
<text>
description
"Initial revision.";
reference
"RFC 9108: YANG Types for DNS Classes and Resource Record
Types";
}
/* Typedefs */

</text>
</template>
<template match="iana:registry[@id='dns-parameters-2']">
<text> typedef dns-class-name {
</text>
<text> type enumeration {
</text>
<apply-templates
select="iana:record[not(iana:description='Unassigned' or
starts-with(iana:description,'Reserved'))]"
mode="class"/>
<text> }
description
"This enumeration type defines mnemonic names and corresponding
numeric values of DNS classes.";
reference
"RFC 6895: Domain Name System (DNS) IANA Considerations";
}
typedef dns-class {
type union {
type uint16;
type dns-class-name;
}
description
"This type allows reference to a DNS class using either the
assigned mnemonic name or numeric value.";
}

</text>
</template>
<template match="iana:registry[@id='dns-parameters-4']">
<text> typedef rr-type-name {
</text>
<text> type enumeration {
</text>
<apply-templates
select="iana:record[iana:type!='Unassigned' and
iana:type!='Private use' and iana:type!='Reserved']"
mode="rr-type"/>
<text> }
description
"This enumeration type defines mnemonic names and corresponding
numeric values of DNS resource record types.";
reference
"- RFC 6895: Domain Name System (DNS) IANA Considerations
- RFC 1035: Domain names - implementation and specification";
}
typedef rr-type {
type union {
type uint16;
type rr-type-name;
}
description
"This type allows reference to a DNS resource record type
using either the assigned mnemonic name or numeric value.";
}
</text>
</template>
<template match="iana:record" mode="class">
<call-template name="enum">
<with-param name="id">
<choose>
<when test="contains(iana:description,'(')">
<value-of select="substring-before(substring-after(
iana:description, '('), ')')"/>
</when>
<otherwise>
<value-of
select="substring-after(iana:description, ' ')"/>
</otherwise>
</choose>
</with-param>
</call-template>
</template>
<template match="iana:record" mode="rr-type">
<call-template name="enum">
<with-param name="id" select="iana:type"/>
</call-template>
</template>
<template match="iana:description">
<text> description
 </text>
<value-of select="concat($dq, ., $dq, ';
')"/>
</template>
<template match="iana:xref">
<choose>
<when test="@type='rfc'">
<value-of
select="concat('RFC ', substring-after(@data, 'rfc'))"/>
</when>
<when test="@type='person'">
<apply-templates
select="/iana:registry/iana:people/iana:person[
@id=current()/@data]"/>
</when>
<when test="@type='text'">
<value-of select="translate(., $dq, $sq)"/>
</when>
<otherwise>
<value-of select="@data"/>
</otherwise>
</choose>
<choose>
<when test="position()=last()">
<text>";
</text>
</when>
<otherwise>
<text>
 - </text>
</otherwise>
</choose>
</template>
<template match="iana:person">
<value-of select="concat(iana:name, ' <', iana:uri, '>')"/>
</template>
</stylesheet>
<CODE ENDS>
Authors' Addresses
Ladislav Lhotka
CZ.NIC
Czech Republic
Email: ladislav.lhotka@nic.cz
Petr Špaček
Internet Systems Consortium
Czech Republic
Email: pspacek@isc.org
AI ELI5
On this page
§1Why DNS Needs YANG Types
YANG is a language for modeling configuration and state data, management operations and notifications. Together with management protocols such as NETCONF and RESTCONF it could be used for DNS operations: configuring authoritative servers, resolvers and zone data.
The RFC argues that the real benefit comes only from a unified data model supported by several DNS implementations. Operators could then run several server implementations in parallel with one management interface, and moving to another implementation would become easier. The authors expect building such models to be lengthy and to need cooperation from the major DNS vendors.
Any such model will need the parameters and enumerations in IANA registries. This RFC translates two fundamental ones into YANG, a step it calls straightforward and relatively uncontroversial.
If every toy company labelled its toy boxes differently, sorting them would be a mess. This document gives everyone the same labels for DNS record kinds.
§2The Module and Its Types
The module is named iana-dns-class-rr-type. At the time of writing, the IANA Domain Name System (DNS) Parameters page held thirteen registries, and the module covers only two: DNS CLASSes and Resource Record (RR) TYPEs. The RFC expects the other registries to be reflected in future modules as needed.
Each registry becomes a YANG enumeration, dns-class-name and rr-type-name. An entry such as IN carries its value (1), a description and a reference (RFC 1035).
The types people actually use are dns-class and rr-type. Each is a union of a uint16 and the matching enumeration. This follows RFC 3597, which allows a class or type to be written by its decimal number, for example CLASS1 for IN or TYPE28 for AAAA.
Unassigned and reserved values are left out of the enumerations, so they can only be given as decimal numbers.
A type can be written as a name or as a number, like calling a friend by name or by their locker number. Values nobody has been given yet only have numbers.
typedef rr-type {
type union {
type uint16;
type rr-type-name;
}
description
"This type allows reference to a DNS resource record type
using either the assigned mnemonic name or numeric value.";
}§3How IANA Keeps the Module Current
IANA created the initial module by running the XSLT stylesheet in the RFC's appendix against the XML version of the DNS Parameters registry. The latest module is available from the YANG Parameters registry.
When a class or RR type is added to its registry, a new enum statement SHALL be added to the module. Its name is the mnemonic name, and its substatements are set as follows.
value: the decimal value from the registry.status: included only if the registration is deprecated or obsoleted, mapping to the YANG statusesdeprecatedandobsolete.description: the full class name or the meaning of the type, if any.reference: the references from the registry.
Unassigned or reserved values SHALL NOT be included, and each update adds a new revision statement before the existing ones. Changes must be made in the registries, never directly in the module, and IANA added notes saying so to the registries and to the module's entry.
The module has the namespace urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:yang:iana-dns-class-rr-type and the prefix dnsct.
When a new kind of DNS record is added to the official list, IANA must add it to the YANG copy too. Nobody may edit the copy by hand.
§4The XSLT Stylesheet
Appendix A holds an XSLT 1.0 stylesheet that is meant for IANA to generate the first version of the module. It is applied to the XML version of the DNS Parameters registry, for example with xsltproc iana-dns-class-rr-type.xsl dns-parameters.xml.
The stylesheet writes the module header, then an enum for each record of the two registries. It skips unassigned and reserved entries, and marks an entry status obsolete when its description contains the word OBSOLETE. For classes, the name comes from the text in parentheses in the description, when there is any.
The stylesheet is a recipe that turns the official list into the YANG version automatically, so no one has to copy it by hand.
§5Security Considerations
The RFC translates two IANA registries into YANG data types and introduces no technology or protocol. The definitions themselves have no security impact on the Internet, but their use in concrete YANG modules might.
The security considerations in the YANG specification, RFC 7950, apply to this document as well.
This is only a list of names, so it cannot cause harm by itself. Care is needed only when the list is used in real tools.