PHP MySQL - Stilson.net

CHAPTER 16 • NETWORKINGwww.it-ebooks.info■ Note Several of the functions introduced in this chapter only work on the Windows platform when using PHP5.3.0 and newer. If you are running an older version of PHP, check out the PEAR package Net_DNS to emulate theircapabilities.DNSThe Domain Name System (DNS) is what allows you to use domain names (e.g., example.com) in placeof the corresponding IP address, such as 192.0.34.166. The domain names and their complementary IPaddresses are stored on domain name servers, which are interspersed across the globe. Typically, adomain has several types of records associated to it, one mapping the IP address to the domain, anotherfor directing e-mail, and another for a domain name alias. Network administrators and developers oftenneed to learn more about various DNS records for a given domain. This section introduces a number ofstandard PHP functions capable of digging up a great deal of information regarding DNS records.Checking for the Existence of DNS RecordsThe checkdnsrr() function checks for the existence of DNS records. Its prototype follows:int checkdnsrr(string host [, string type])DNS records are checked based on the supplied host value and optional DNS resource record type,returning TRUE if any records are located and FALSE otherwise. Possible record types include thefollowing:A: IPv4 Address record. Responsible for the hostname-to-IPv4 address translation.AAAA: IPv6 Address record. Responsible for the hostname-to-IPv6 addresstranslation.A6: IPv6 Address record. Used to represent IPv6 addresses. Intended to supplantpresent use of AAAA records for IPv6 mappings.ANY: Looks for any type of record.CNAME: Canonical Name record. Maps an alias to the real domain name.MX: Mail Exchange record. Determines the name and relative preference of a mailserver for the host. This is the default setting.NAPTR: Naming Authority Pointer. Allows for non-DNS-compliant names,resolving them to new domains using regular expression rewrite rules. Forexample, an NAPTR might be used to maintain legacy (pre-DNS) services.NS: Name Server record. Determines the name server for the host.PTR: Pointer record. Maps an IP address to a host.SOA: Start of Authority record. Sets global parameters for the host.332