DNS server survey

Introduction

These are the results of a survey of DNS server software. This survey was inspired by D.J. Bernstein's survey, which hasn't been updated since 2002. This survey was completed on May 23, 2004.

Zone files and nameservers

This survey examined the zone files for the .com, .net, .org, .info, and .biz TLDs (top-level domains). It should be noted that the survey did not include the root nameservers for any TLD.

100.000% 37,836,997 Total number of domains examined
  2.775%  1,049,834 Total unique nameserver names
  1.709%    646,524 Total unique nameserver IP addresses

General survey results

I used Roy Arends' fpdns DNS fingerprinting tool to attempt to identify the software running on all unique nameservers.

Summary of results
100.000%    646,524 Total number of nameservers fingerprinted
 72.512%    468,808 Nameservers fingerprinted successfully
 27.488%    177,716 Errors while fingerprinting nameservers

Number of domains serviced by each program
 70.105% 24,335,752 BIND
 15.571%  5,405,266 TinyDNS
  6.237%  2,165,143 Microsoft DNS Server
  2.792%    969,097 MyDNS
  1.964%    681,614 PowerDNS
  1.250%    433,905 Simple DNS Plus
  1.138%    395,206 Unknown
  0.277%     96,232 Pliant DNS Server
  0.203%     70,455 NSD
  0.144%     49,921 UltraDNS
  0.104%     36,195 Net::DNS::Nameserver
  0.083%     28,656 QuickDNS
  0.064%     22,087 Incognito DNS Commander
  0.025%      8,508 MaraDNS
  0.024%      8,174 rbldnsd
  0.018%      6,135 Totd
  0.001%        386 ATLAS
  0.001%        371 Posadis
  0.001%        312 NonSequitur DNS
  0.000%         12 Nominum ANS/CNS

Number of installations found for each program
 72.598%    340,345 BIND
 21.711%    101,781 Microsoft DNS Server
  2.587%     12,130 TinyDNS
  1.041%      4,879 Unknown
  0.922%      4,324 Simple DNS Plus
  0.314%      1,474 MyDNS
  0.260%      1,220 PowerDNS
  0.192%        902 Totd
  0.167%        781 QuickDNS
  0.054%        253 MaraDNS
  0.046%        214 Incognito DNS Commander
  0.045%        210 Pliant DNS Server
  0.023%        107 Posadis
  0.018%         85 NSD
  0.007%         31 rbldnsd
  0.005%         23 NonSequitur DNS
  0.004%         20 UltraDNS
  0.003%         14 Nominum ANS/CNS
  0.002%          9 ATLAS
  0.001%          6 Net::DNS::Nameserver

Summary of errors
 98.064%    174,276 Query timed out
  0.669%      1,189 Question section incomplete
  1.254%      2,228 Connection failed
  0.008%         15 Header section incomplete
  0.005%          8 Answer section incomplete

Version-specific survey results

For each server type included in the survey, specific versions were sometimes probed. For those servers, here are the results:

Version results: BIND# domains
 50.342%    171,330 BIND 9.2.0rc7 -- 9.2.2-P3 (recursion enabled)  5,735,389
 12.193%     41,498 BIND 8.3.0-RC1 -- 8.4.4 (recursion enabled)  3,138,609
  9.147%     31,131 BIND 8.1-REL -- 8.2.1-T4B (recursion enabled)    899,283
  6.924%     23,564 BIND 9.2.0rc7 -- 9.2.2-P3  3,597,589
  6.017%     20,478 BIND 9.2.3rc1 -- 9.4.0a0 (recursion enabled)  1,264,461
  2.884%      9,814 BIND 9.1.0 -- 9.1.3 (recursion enabled)    183,636
  2.194%      7,466 BIND 8.3.0-RC1 -- 8.4.4 (local recursion enabled)  1,115,434
  2.027%      6,898 BIND 9.2.3rc1 -- 9.4.0a0  1,388,057
  1.971%      6,709 BIND 4.9.3 -- 4.9.11    246,564
  1.668%      5,677 BIND 9.2.0a1 -- 9.2.2-P3 (recursion enabled)    168,151
  1.462%      4,976 BIND 8.2.2-P3 -- 8.3.0-T2A (recursion enabled)    648,353
  1.049%      3,569 BIND 9.2.0rc7 -- 9.2.2-P3 (local recursion enabled)     52,701
  0.702%      2,390 BIND 8.3.0-RC1 -- 8.4.4  4,773,953
  0.433%      1,472 BIND 8.2.2-P3 -- 8.3.0-T2A (local recursion enabled)    492,316
  0.344%      1,170 BIND 9.1.0 -- 9.1.3    155,193
  0.231%        786 BIND 8.2.2-P3 -- 8.3.0-T2A    399,438
  0.155%        529 BIND 9.2.0rc4 -- 9.2.2-P3 (recursion enabled)     21,113
  0.069%        234 BIND 9.2.0a1 -- 9.2.0rc3 (recursion enabled)      7,202
  0.048%        165 BIND 4.8 -- 4.8.3      1,585
  0.038%        128 BIND 9.0.0b5 -- 9.1.3 (local recursion enabled)      2,330
  0.026%         90 BIND 9.2.0rc4 -- 9.2.2-P3      3,645
  0.023%         79 BIND 8.4.1-p1     32,178
  0.021%         71 BIND 9.0.0b5 -- 9.0.1 (recursion enabled)        550
  0.008%         26 BIND 9.2.0a1 -- 9.2.0rc3        127
  0.006%         19 BIND 9.2.0rc4 -- 9.2.0rc6 (recursion enabled)        286
  0.005%         18 BIND 9.2.0a1 -- 9.2.2-P3 (local recursion enabled)        240
  0.005%         17 BIND 9.0.0b5 -- 9.0.1        263
  0.003%         11 BIND 8.2.1 (recursion enabled)      6,637
  0.003%          9 BIND 9.2.0rc4 -- 9.2.0rc6        178
  0.001%          4 BIND 9.2.0a1 -- 9.2.0rc6 (local recursion enabled)         11
  0.001%          4 BIND 8 plus root-server modification        122

Version results: Microsoft DNS Server# domains
 70.623%     71,881 Microsoft Windows 2000  1,599,386
 19.468%     19,815 Microsoft Windows 2003    382,584
  9.908%     10,084 Microsoft Windows NT4    183,172
  0.001%          1 Microsoft Windows (recursion enabled)          1

Version results: TinyDNS# domains
 98.821%     11,987 TinyDNS 1.05  5,398,672
  1.179%        143 TinyDNS 1.04      6,594

Version results: PowerDNS# domains
 98.607%      1,203 PowerDNS 2.9.4 -- 2.9.11    681,270
  1.393%         17 PowerDNS 2.8 -- 2.9.3        344

Version results: NSD# domains
 61.176%         52 NSD 1.2.3     69,028
 18.824%         16 NSD 1.2.2      1,230
 14.118%         12 NSD 1.0.2        192
  4.706%          4 NSD 1.0.3 -- 1.2.1          5
  1.176%          1 NSD 1.2.3 (root)          0

Version results: Simple DNS Plus# domains
 79.741%      3,448 Simple DNS Plus (recursion enabled)    350,398
 20.259%        876 Simple DNS Plus     83,507

Version results: Nominum ANS/CNS# domains
 92.857%         13 Nominum CNS         10
  7.143%          1 Nominum ANS          2


Copyright 2004 Don Moore <bboy@bboy.net>