A DNS root zone is the top-level DNS zone in a Domain Name System (DNS) hierarchy. Most commonly it refers to the root zone of the largest global DNS system deployed for the Internet. The zone is managed by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), managed by ICANN.
A combination of limits in the DNS and IP protocols, namely the practical size of unfragmented User Datagram Protocol (UDP) packets, resulted in a limited number of root server addresses that can be accommodated in DNS name query responses. This limit has determined the number of name server installation at currently 13 clusters, serving the needs of the entire public Internet worldwide.
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Initialization of DNS service
There are thirteen root server clusters that are authoritative for queries to the global DNS root zone. The root servers hold the list of addresses for the authoritative servers for the top-level domains. Every name lookup must either start with an access to a root server, or use information that was once obtained from a root server.
The root servers have the official names a.root-servers.net to m.root-servers.net. However, to look up the IP address of a root server from these names, a DNS resolver must first be able to look up a root server to find the address of an authoritative server for the .net DNS zone. Clearly this creates a paradox, so the address of at least one root server must be known by a host in order to bootstrap access to the DNS system. This is usually done by shipping the addresses of all known DNS root servers as a file with the computer operating system: the IP addresses of some root servers will change over the years, but only one correct address is needed for the resolver to obtain the current list of name servers. This file is called named.cache in the BIND nameserver reference implementation and a current version is officially distributed by ICANN's InterNIC website.[1]
Once the address of a single functioning root server is known, all other DNS information can be discovered recursively, and the address of any domain name may be looked up.
Redundancy and diversity
The root DNS servers are essential to the function of the Internet, as most Internet services, such as the World-Wide Web and electronic mail, are based on domain names. The DNS servers are potential points of failure for the entire Internet. For this reason, there are multiple root servers worldwide. The number has been limited to 13 in DNS responses because DNS was limited to 512-byte packets until protocol extensions (EDNS) were designed to lift this restriction. While it is possible to fit more entries into a packet of this size when using "label compression", 13 was chosen as a reliable limit. Since the advent of IPv6, the next generation IP address structure, previous practices are being modified and extra space is filled with IPv6 name servers.
The root name servers are hosted in multiple secure sites with high-bandwidth access to accommodate the traffic load. Initially all of these installations were located in the United States. However, the distribution has shifted and this is no longer the case. Usually each DNS server installation at a given site is physically a cluster of machines with load-balancing routers. A comprehensive list of servers, their locations, and properties is available at http://root-servers.org.
The modern trend is to use anycast addressing and routing to provide resilience and load balancing across a wide geographic area. For example, the j.root-servers.net root server, maintained by VeriSign, is represented by 41 (as of July 2008[update]) individual server systems located around the world which can be queried using anycast addressing.[citation needed]
See also
References
- ^ http://www.internic.net/zones/named.cache Official named.cache distribution
- RFC 2870 - Root Name Server Operational Requirements
- RFC 2826 - IAB Technical Comment on the Unique DNS Root
External links
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