] This document contains a number of observations on ] the implications of the use of wildcards in DNS zones, ] and makes some recommendations concerning their use. ] The Robustness principle tells us that in some (not all) of ] the problems detailed above, both parties could be ] construed as being at fault. In some cases this is hardly ] surprising: spam filtering in particular, by its nature, ] tends to be extremely ad hoc and somewhat fragile. ] No doubt there are lessons here for all parties involved. ] The Principle of Least Astonishment suggests that the ] deployment of wildcards was disastrous for the users. ] It had widesweeping effects on other users of the ] Internet far beyond those enumerated by the zone ] operator, created several brand new problems, and ] caused other internet entities to make hasty, possibly ] mutually incompatible and possibly deleterious (to ] the internet as a whole) changes to their own ] operations in an attempt to react to the change. ] Proposed guideline: If you want to use wildcards in your ] zone and understand the risks, go ahead, but only do so ] with the informed consent of the entities that are delegated within your zone. Internet Architecture Board - Architectural Concerns on the use of DNS Wildcards |