WHOIS host records and ip addresses

[tmetro-blu-5a1Jt6qxUNc at public.gmane.org (Tom Metro)]

John Abreau wrote:
> How can I do a WHOIS lookup that will show the ip addresses of the
> HOST records that Network Solutions maintains separate from DNS?

Network Solutions used to (and perhaps still does) support the concept
of registered hosts. It's probably not what you're looking for here, but
I believe each host had an assigned ID which could be used to look it up
via whois.

Instead I think you're looking for information on your "glue records:"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_Name_System#Circular_dependencies_and_glue_records

See this thread for a discussion on how to view them:
http://serverfault.com/questions/142344/how-to-test-dns-glue-record

which recommends this tool:
http://www.intodns.com/

which reports on the presence of glue records, if they exist.

The point to glue records is to solve the catch-22 or circular reference
when you look up the name server for foo.example.com, and the answers is
ns.example.com.

I believe if your name servers are identified by names in a zone
different from the zone being served, you don't need glue records, and
having them just leads to potential maintenance problems, as you
experienced.

The advantage to having the glue records when you don't need them is
that it slightly speeds up client requests by eliminating a lookup, but
if everyone is caching DNS as they should be, the difference should be
negligible.

 -Tom

-- 
Tom Metro
Venture Logic, Newton, MA, USA
"Enterprise solutions through open source."
Professional Profile: http://tmetro.venturelogic.com/