Mockapetris introduced DNS as a distributed replacement for the centralized HOSTS.TXT mechanism as its size and update frequency approached practical limits.

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Location PART 2 - FOUR HIDDEN CHIMNEYS CHAPTER 10: BUILDING-BLOCK REALITY Exaptation

"Mockapetris introduced DNS as a distributed replacement for the centralized HOSTS.TXT mechanism as its size and update frequency approached practical limits."

RFC 882 says the global HOSTS.TXT table and especially its update frequency were near the limit of manageability and proposed a distributed database instead.

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Source title DOMAIN NAMES - CONCEPTS and FACILITIES

Source authors Paul Mockapetris

Source year 1983

Confidence high

Importance mid