LDNS

networking

Stands for: local DNS resolver

The recursive resolver a client actually queries.

The local DNS resolver is the recursive server a stub client sends queries to, and whose IP a service like GTM/DNS sees, not the end user's. Because the LDNS location approximates the user's, it drives geographic load-balancing decisions.

The local DNS resolver is whichever recursive server a client actually asks, and it matters more than most configurations acknowledge because it sees every name the client looks up and decides what answer to return.

It is also the basis of most content delivery decisions. A CDN chooses an edge by looking at where the query came from, which is the resolver rather than the user, so a client using a distant public resolver may be directed to a distant edge. EDNS Client Subnet exists to pass a truncated client address along and fix that, at the cost of the privacy the separation provided. Which resolver a device uses is therefore both a privacy decision and a performance one.

Also known as: ldns, local dns

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