Minimal responses

Dear NSD users and developers,

I've been comparing responses from BIND, Knot and NSD, and looking at
response sizes.

Knot version 2.3 and above, and BIND with "minimal-responses yes",
return minimal responses. They only add data to the authority and
additional sections if necessary. For example, a query for ./IN/SOA to
BIND (with "minimal-responses yes") or Knot returns a 389-byte response:

;; Query time: 2 msec
;; SERVER: 2001:7fd::1#53(2001:7fd::1)
;; WHEN: Fri Mar 24 11:35:57 CET 2017
;; MSG SIZE rcvd: 389

The same query to NSD returns a 1204-byte response:

;; Query time: 2 msec
;; SERVER: 2001:7fd::1#53(2001:7fd::1)
;; WHEN: Fri Mar 24 11:38:15 CET 2017
;; MSG SIZE rcvd: 1204

This is because NSD has added data to the authority and additional
sections (which I have not shown).

If NSD had the ability to minimise responses the way BIND and Knot do,
would anyone want or use it? Do any folks feel like NSD should have this
feature, or do you folk think that NSD's responses are just fine the way
they are, and you don't care about sending out more bytes?

Regards,
Anand

Anand Buddhdev:

If NSD had the ability to minimise responses the way BIND and Knot do,
would anyone want or use it?

Hello Anand,

Although I use to compile NSD with minimal responses enabled
(explicit without --disable-minimal-responses)
I also noticed the answers are larger compared to BIND servers.

Yes, I would use it...

Andreas

Hi Andreas,

Although I use to compile NSD with minimal responses enabled
(explicit without --disable-minimal-responses)
I also noticed the answers are larger compared to BIND servers.

Yes, I would use it...

Thanks for your reply. I've submitted this enhancement request to the
NSD developers:

https://www.nlnetlabs.nl/bugs-script/show_bug.cgi?id=1243

You may subscribe to it to follow any discussion, or add comments.

Regards,
Anand

Hello NSD users,

Thanks for your reply. I've submitted this enhancement request to the
NSD developers:

https://www.nlnetlabs.nl/bugs-script/show_bug.cgi?id=1243

Wouter has already solved this, and provided a new option called
"minimal-responses" for nsd.conf. It defaults to "no". Setting it to
"yes" makes NSD emit small responses, with the exception of NS queries.
Thanks Wouter!

Regards,
Anand

Wouter, which NSD version do you refer?

I'm only aware of "minimal-reponses: yes" for unbound-1.6.1
( http://www.unbound.net/documentation/unbound.conf.html )

but not for nsd-4.1.15 ( https://nlnetlabs.nl/projects/nsd/nsd.conf.5.html )

Andreas

Hi Andreas,

I'm only aware of "minimal-reponses: yes" for unbound-1.6.1
( http://www.unbound.net/documentation/unbound.conf.html )

but not for nsd-4.1.15 ( https://nlnetlabs.nl/projects/nsd/nsd.conf.5.html )

It's just in trunk for now. It will become available when 4.1.16 is
released.

Regards,
Anand