Serving DNS using a peer-to-peer lookup service

Abstract

The current domain name system (DNS) couples ownership of domains with the responsibility of serving data for them. The DNS security extensions (DNSSEC) allow verificaton of records obtained by alternate means, opening exploration of alternative storage systems for DNS records. We explore one such alternative using DHash, a peer-to-peer distributed hash table built on top of Chord.Our system inherits Chord’s fault-tolerance and load balance properties, at the same time eliminating many administrative problems with the current DNS. Still, our system has significantly higher latencies and other disadvantages in comparison with conventional DNS. We use this comparison to draw conclusions about general issues that still need to be addressed in peer-to-peer systems and distributed hash tables in particular.