authorative / non-authorative dns server

[Shivkumar]

Hi;

What is authorative and non-authorative dns server ? is it possible to make a dns server as authorative ? is there any switch or option available to make dns server as authorative ?

Thanks,
Shiv

[Simon Hargrave]

When you get an "authoritative response", it means that either the DNS server you asked is responsible for the domain you requested, or the server your asked subsequently got an authoritative response from the relevant server.

A "non authoritative response" is when you query your local DNS server for a local domain, and it has cached the details from the relevant other DNS server.

Basically all it means is your DNS server telling you "look mate, here's the answer, but i'm only telling you what he told me a while ago".

DNS servers cache entries, so it's just telling you "to the best of my knowledge".

So in answer to your actual question "how do you make a dns server authoritative?" Well a server isn't either "authoritative or non-authoritative" per se, so you don't. It's the answers that are authoritative or non-authoritative. It's not a problem though, it's just the way the world spins.