Here's the latest response from Doug. He confirms that IANA does permit multiple names for the same IP address for delegations in the root zone. I trust we can now consider this matter closed. Begin forwarded message:

From: Doug Barton <doug.barton@icann.org> Date: May 21, 2005 20:53:13 BST To: Jim Reid <jim@rfc1035.com> Cc: iana@iana.org, Daniel <dfk@ripe.net>, Mohsen Souissi <Mohsen.Souissi@nic.fr>, Jaap Akkerhuis <jaap@nlnetlabs.nl>, "Olaf M. Kolkman" <olaf@ripe.net>, Lars-Johan Liman <liman@autonomica.se>, Barbara Roseman <barbara.roseman@icann.org>, Peter Koch <pk@denic.de>, Olivier Guillard <Olivier.Guillard@nic.fr>, philippe.lubrano@nic.fr Subject: Re: Questions on IANA TLD Operations

On Sat, 21 May 2005, Jim Reid wrote:

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On May 21, 2005, at 04:09, Doug Barton wrote:

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Thank you for raising this issue, my response is below. Please let me know if you intend to forward this to the WG. Otherwise I am happy to do so.

Doug, many thanks for the timely reply. It was unfortunate that you were unable to be in Stockholm when this issue was raised at the WG.

However I have to say that your reply leaves me as confused as I was when we sent the email to yourself and Barbara. Perhaps I've not had enough caffeine today to get the neurons firing. Your mail says "the problem is now fixed" without clarifying which problem you are referring to. One interpretation of your remarks could be that the problem with the .fr delegation has been resolved because AFNIC has applied the workaround you suggested. That interpretation of course leaves the questions we asked unanswered. Could you please give me a clear and unequivocal answer to this question: "Are TLDs permitted to register a hostname for their delegation when there is another hostname in the root zone for the same IP address?" Thanks.

Yes. I do not know how to make it more unequivocal than that. :)

I'm sorry that you found my answer confusing. One of the reasons it took so long to produce (in addition to the fact that until Monday I am technically still on leave) is that I had several people review it to make sure that it was clear. I am sensitive to your point that English is not the first language for many of the RIPE community, and I appreciate your asking for clarification.

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As far as forwarding your reply to the WG list is concerned, I think this should be my responsibility.

That's totally appropriate, and I see that you have already done that, thank you. My only concern is that given the fact that this issue was raised in the WG, I want to be sure that they are informed of the response.

Regards,

Doug

-- Doug Barton General Manager, The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority