[nsd-users] Minimal responses

[Anand Buddhdev]

Dear NSD users and developers,

I've been comparing responses from BIND, Knot and NSD, and looking at
response sizes.

Knot version 2.3 and above, and BIND with "minimal-responses yes",
return minimal responses. They only add data to the authority and
additional sections if necessary. For example, a query for ./IN/SOA to
BIND (with "minimal-responses yes") or Knot returns a 389-byte response:

;; Query time: 2 msec
;; SERVER: 2001:7fd::1#53(2001:7fd::1)
;; WHEN: Fri Mar 24 11:35:57 CET 2017
;; MSG SIZE  rcvd: 389

The same query to NSD returns a 1204-byte response:

;; Query time: 2 msec
;; SERVER: 2001:7fd::1#53(2001:7fd::1)
;; WHEN: Fri Mar 24 11:38:15 CET 2017
;; MSG SIZE  rcvd: 1204

This is because NSD has added data to the authority and additional
sections (which I have not shown).

If NSD had the ability to minimise responses the way BIND and Knot do,
would anyone want or use it? Do any folks feel like NSD should have this
feature, or do you folk think that NSD's responses are just fine the way
they are, and you don't care about sending out more bytes?

Regards,
Anand