RFC 1918 defines the following IP blocks as designated for private intranets:
10.0.0.0 – 10.255.255.255 (10/8 prefix)
172.16.0.0 – 172.31.255.255 (172.16/12 prefix)
192.168.0.0 – 192.168.255.255 (192.168/16 prefix)
I think it’s about time we have the same thing for DNS, for example:
.dev
.intra
The logic is as follows.
.dev for intranet based development instances of a site. For example this website’s dev instance on my intranet is robert.accettura.dev.
.intra for intranet url’s such as yourdomain.intra. This can be used for any intranet purpose (internal homepage, email system, blogs, wiki, etc.).
This is a much more logical system than using intranet DNS servers to hijack a domain for internal purposes, or reserving subdomains for the purpose.
Someone should go pester ICANN about such a standard. Btw: .local is stupid, if it’s local, it’s localhost.