Serving DNS Using a Peer-to-Peer Lookup Service

The current Domain Name System (DNS) couples ownership of domains with the responsibility of serving data for them. The DNS Security Extensions (DNSSEC) allows verification of records obtained by alternate means, opening exploration of alternative storage systems for DNS records. The authors explore one such alternative using DHash, a peer-to-peer distributed hash table built on top of Chord. The system inherits Chord's fault-tolerance and load balance properties, at the same time eliminating many administrative problems with the current DNS. Still, the system has significantly higher latencies and other disadvantages in comparison with conventional DNS. They 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.