The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Apr. 30, 2002
Filed:
Sep. 21, 1998
Stuart Lup-Sing Kwan, Redmond, WA (US);
Glenn Alexander Curtis, Redmond, WA (US);
Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA (US);
Abstract
The invention detects multiple master DNS server computers and handles multiple namespaces. In traditional DNS, each zone or domain has a primary or master server computer as well as one or more slave server computers. Both the master server computer and the slave server computers have complete information regarding a particular zone. The master server computer is distinct in that it receives changes made by a client. The slave server computers periodically update their own information from the master server computer. In multiple master DNS, each server computer is essentially a primary server computer in that any server computer may accept updates from a client. This information is then distributed to the other multiple master server computers. In order to determine whether a server computer is a multiple master server computer an analysis must be has as to the SOA record, which contains the name of the primary server computer as well as the zone for which the primary server computer is authoritative, and the NS record set, which holds the names of all server computers. The analysis of these records determines which server computers are multiple master DNS server computers. A client, by knowing which server computers are multiple master server computers, may send an update to any one of those server computers. A client is thus not limited to one server computer, which could be down or otherwise not functioning. In multiple master server computer configurations, a client has a choice as to where to send an update. The present invention also determines how many namespaces the client is in. This is also done by examining the SOA and NS record sets. While a client may be physically connected to one or more networks, the networks may in reality be in the same namespace. The invention determines the number of namespaces. When a client is prepared to update information contained in the network or on a server computer, the client need only update each namespace rather than send an update over each network connection.