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https://www.icann.org/en/blogs/details/there-are-not-13-root-servers-15-11-2007-en
Submission: On October 20 via manual from CY — Scanned from US
Submission: On October 20 via manual from CY — Scanned from US
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This page is available only with JavaScript enabled A NOTE ABOUT OUR PRIVACY POLICIES AND TERMS OF SERVICE: We have updated our privacy policies and certain website terms of service to provide greater transparency, promote simplification, and align with recent changes in privacy laws applicable to us. Learn more. This site uses cookies to deliver an efficient user experience and to help us see how the site is used. Learn more. OK * العربية * 中文 * English * Français * Pусский * Español Logo en Search Search Search Filtered Search Log In Sign Up ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO SIGN OUT FROM HTTPS://WWW.ICANN.ORG? Yes Cancel IF YOU WANT TO SIGN OUT FROM BOTH HTTPS://WWW.ICANN.ORG AND ICANN ACCOUNT, CLICK HERE. ICANN GET STARTED NEWS AND MEDIA POLICY PUBLIC COMMENT RESOURCES COMMUNITY QUICKLINKS -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- * Get Started * News and Media * Policy * Public Comment * Resources * Community * Quicklinks ICANN Blogs Read ICANN Blogs to stay informed of the latest policymaking activities, regional events, and more. Subscribe ICANN.org Home Announcements Blogs Engagement Calendar Follow Us on Social Media Resources THERE ARE NOT 13 ROOT SERVERS 15 November 2007 By Kim Davies KIM DAVIES VP, IANA Services & President, PTI Kim Davies joined ICANN in 2005, and serves as the Vice President, IANA Services and President, Public Technical Identifiers. In this role he leads the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) functions, which coordinates and manages the Internet's unique identifiers to promote Internet interoperability. His tenure has evolved IANA through the implementation of technical systems, formalizing business processes and quality management practices, and transitioning the functions from a US Government contract to multi-stakeholder oversight. Kim has previously been involved in country-code top-level domain management, cofounding the .au domain manager auDA and representing European country-code managers at CENTR. In Australia, he worked for a major ISP, and established a key Australian Internet exchange point. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I am at the UN Internet Governance Forum, being held this week in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. A recurring theme you can hear here is one that has vexed the technical community many times before — “Why are there 13 root servers?” This question is usually followed by questions like “Why are most of the root servers in the US?” So let’s dispel these myths. There are not 13 root servers. What there are is there are many hundreds of root servers at over 130 physical locations in many different countries. There are twelve organisations responsible for the overall coordination of the management of these servers. So where does the 13 number come from? There is a technical design limitation that means thirteen is a practical maximum to the number of named authorities in the delegation data for the root zone. These named authorities are listed alphabetically, from a.root-servers.net through m.root-servers.net. Each has associated with it an IP address (and shortly some will have more than one as IPv6 is further rolled out). But when we think of servers, we probably think of physical machines that sit on a desk, or perhaps lined up in racks in a specialised computing facility. By any measure, there are not 13 servers as there is not a correlation between the number of named authorities, and the number of servers. The majority of named authorities are spread across multiple cities, often multiple countries. The “I” root, for example, is located in 25 different countries. But ignoring the physical diversity, even those authorities that are just in one physical location — the reality is they are comprised of networks of multiple servers that handle the millions of DNS queries the root servers receive every hour. Another thing you may hear is that some of these root servers are just copies, whilst others are the “real” name servers. The reality is that every single root server is a copy, and none of them are more special than the others. In fact, the true master server from which the copies are made is not one of the public root servers. So next time you hear there are 13 root servers, or that they are mostly in the US, just remember this map, courtesy of Patrik Fältström: AUTHORS KIM DAVIES VP, IANA Services & President, PTI Read biography KIM DAVIES VP, IANA Services & President, PTI Kim Davies joined ICANN in 2005, and serves as the Vice President, IANA Services and President, Public Technical Identifiers. In this role he leads the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) functions, which coordinates and manages the Internet's unique identifiers to promote Internet interoperability. His tenure has evolved IANA through the implementation of technical systems, formalizing business processes and quality management practices, and transitioning the functions from a US Government contract to multi-stakeholder oversight. Kim has previously been involved in country-code top-level domain management, cofounding the .au domain manager auDA and representing European country-code managers at CENTR. In Australia, he worked for a major ISP, and established a key Australian Internet exchange point. 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