Zone editor should allow _ underscore character within the entry

[jpratt]

We would like to create TXT records with an underscore character within the entry, not just at the beginning. Here is an example request:

"_vhreg_auth is required for hosted.im"

You cannot create a TXT entry for something like test_test, only _test

[cPanelDavidG]

To confirm, this is the cPanel DNS Editor, correct? That's the only place I'm able to replicate this behavior at the moment, so I just want to confirm.

[jpratt]

Yes, that is correct

[cPanelDavidG]

Yes, that is correct

After doing much research on this issue, it turns out that RFC 1123 is the latest standard in place governing what can be placed in the cPanel interface. The cPanel interface conforms to RFC 1123 while the WHM interface does not.

There is a proposed standard RFC 2181 that removes the ban against _ being the first character in what is referred to as the label (often synonymous with hostname since labels represent hostnames according to the RFCs).

While I personally believe RFC 2181 makes much more sense given the contemporary use of DNS records by means of throwing out the idea that labels always represent hostnames, the IETF has yet to make it standard since it was proposed in 1997. Might not be a bad idea for those reading this thread to use their influence to sway the IETF into passing RFC 2181 (or a similar RFC) that removes these seemingly archaic limitations on DNS entries.

Note, it is well known that many contemporary technologies violate the RFC 1123 standard including SPF, DKIM, Android Smartphones and Microsoft Windows servers. As this list seems to be growing, it's almost as if the internet is moving towards a modification of RFC 2181 as a de-facto standard (modification being using _ as a prefix to emphasize the label does not represent a hostname) despite RFC 1123 remaining the official standard.

I am still researching this, but I figured I would provide an update to emphasize that more is being considered here than just a simple UI update.