Randall wrote regarding 'Re: [SLE] Subnet 169.254.0.0 (fwd)' on Mon, Aug 23 at 13:53:
On Monday 23 August 2004 11:27, ray canfield wrote: [...]
"Abstract
"169.254.0.0/16 - This is the "link local" block. It is allocated for communication between hosts on a single link. Hosts obtain these addresses by auto-configuration, such as when a DHCP server may not be found."
but if some admin for the DNS servers above, accidently put an entry in place in the zone files, the world would then see that resolution. (or if someone broke in and played with that ip range)
I don't know this for a fact or in any detail, but I believe (assume, really) there are other mechanisms in place to prevent such a local misconfiguration from undermining the proper operation of the Internet as a whole.
If the root nameservers point to a specific DNS server, and that DNS server responds with "something" in response to a lookup of one of those addresses, then the world would see it. It'd be nice if there was something to stop that, but AFAIK, the only things stopping it are 1) root servers without references to authoratative DNS for that range and 2) nothing on an authoratative DNS for that range. There's not realy much else that can be done to stop havoc (at least, not much thet can be done at the global level). :) Recursive DNS lookups work the same whether the address they're looking up is a good one or a 192.168, etc... --Danny, wondering how to hijack BLACKHOLE-1.IANA.ORG now