- Alternative DNS root
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The Internet uses the Domain Name System (DNS) to associate the names of computers with their numeric IP addresses and with other information. The top level of the domain name hierarchy, the DNS root, contains the top-level domains that appear as the suffixes of all Internet domain names. The official DNS root is administered by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). In addition, several organizations operate alternative DNS roots (often referred to as alt roots). These alternative domain name systems operate their own root nameservers and administer their own specific name spaces consisting of custom top-level domains.
The Internet Architecture Board has spoken out strongly against alternate roots in RFC 2826.[1]
Contents
Description
The DNS root zone consists of pointers to the authoritative domain name servers for all TLDs (top-level domains). The root zone is hosted on a collection of root servers operated by several organizations around the world that all use a specific, approved list of domains that is managed by ICANN.
Alternative roots typically include pointers to all of the TLD servers for domains delegated by ICANN, as well as name servers for other, custom top-level domains that are not sanctioned by ICANN. Some alternate roots are operated by the organizations that manage these alternative TLDs.
Alternative DNS roots may be characterized as three groups:[citation needed] those run for idealistic or ideological reasons, those run as profit-making enterprises, and those run internally by an organization for its own use.
While technically trivial to set up, the maintenance of a reliable root server network is a serious undertaking.[citation needed] In order for the system to be effective, multiple servers must be run continuously without interruption in geographically diverse locations.
During the dot-com boom, some alternate root providers[who?] believed that there were substantial profits to be made from providing alternative top-level domains.[citation needed]
Only a small portion of Internet service providers actually use any of the domains served by alternate root operators, generally supporting only ICANN-sanctioned root servers. This has led to the commercial failure of several alternative DNS root providers.[citation needed]
A
bizTLD created by Pacific Root was in operation before ICANN approved the official.bizdomain, operated by Neulevel. For some time after the creation of the official domain, several alternate roots continued to resolve.bizdomains to Pacific Root's servers rather than Neulevel's. Therefore, some domain names existed in different roots and pointed to different IP addresses. The possibility of such conflicts, and their potential for destabilizing the Internet, is the main source of controversy surrounding alternate roots. Many of the alternate roots try to coordinate with each other, but many do not, and no conflict resolution processes exist between them.List of alternative roots and their domains
This section lists the known alternate DNS roots, and for each root, lists the TLDs carried in addition to the ICANN-sanctioned gTLDs and ccTLDs.
Active public root zones
Public-Root
- Public-Root resolves multiple kinds of TLDs globally. It is created to offer an alternative, open DNS infrastructure with its own 13 root servers around the world.
- Administrated by INAIC
- Open for registration of new TLDs through an approved registrar, such as GQNET
42registry
- Domains like .42
This TLD server will probably start to work with OpenNIC soon.[2]
NewNations
- .uu Internet for Uyghur People
- .ti Internet for Tibet
- .te Internet for Tamil Eelam
- .ku Internet for Kurdish People
New.net
agentartauctionchatshopfreegolfllcllploveltdschoolscifisocvideotravel— conflicts with ICANN-sanctioned TLDtraveltechkidschurchgamemp3medmailxxx— conflicts with ICANN-sanctioned TLDxxx(in operation since April 2011)clubinclawfamilysport
UnifiedRoot
- UnifiedRoot enables all existing TLDs and allows new TLDs to be registered at a cost of €50,000 each (plus annual maintenance fees of €12,500).
UnifiedRoot offers a downloadable tool to modify the name server configuration on Windows. UnifiedRoot have also made agreements with ISPs and telcos to enable access to the provided TLDs.[not in citation given] UnifiedRoot supports internationalized domain names (IDN) for top level domains (TLDs).
Namespace
- Resolves too many zones to be listed here.
MobileTLD
- MobileTLD claims to resolve domains for mobile devices.
OpenNIC
bbs— aimed toward ( Telnet style ) bulletin board system servers, and affiliated/related/owned Websitesdyn— Approved by the OpenNIC Community, and will be introduced in the future. Used to resolve dynamic DNS.free— non-commercial use of the Internetfur— Furry and Furry Fandom related sitesgeek— anything geekyglue— Sites related to infrastructuregopher— sites using the Gopher protocolindy— Independent news and mediaing— fun TLD. Further details to be confirmedmicro— micronations and their entitiesnull— miscellaneous non-commercial individual sitesoss— Open source softwareparody— Parodies
Global-Anycast
Cesidian ROOT
NameCoin P2P DNS
NameCoin TLDs are not managed by any single organization. Every NameCoin peer has a database copy. Forced work is used to prevent squatting and other kinds of abuse. NameCoin software allows domain registration under any TLD, but only .bit TLD is currently supported. Users may either use alternative DNS, DNS suffix, gateway, browser plugin or install NameCoin software and gain independent authentic view of namespace. In the latter case NameCoin domains can't be disabled or transferred by an authority.
Inactive public root zones
AlterNIC
AlterNIC ceased operation in 1997.
exp—llc—lnx—ltd—med—nic—noc—porn—xxx—
eDNS
eDNS stopped in 1998.
biz— General business usecorp— For use by corporationsfam— For and about Familyk12— For and about Kidsnpo— Non-profit organizationsper— Personal Domain Name servicesweb— Web-based sites (i.e.: web pages)
Iperdome
Iperdome stopped in 1999.
per— Personal Domain Name services- see the announcement
- later the TLDs changed to:
biz— General business usecorp— For use by corporationsgay— For and about the Gay Communityk12— For and about Kidsnpo— Non-profit organizationspol— Related to Poland and Polish organizationsweb— Web-based sites (i.e.: web pages)
Open Root Server Network
ORSN was shutdown 31 December 2008
- Used to be a mirror of the ICANN root.
Open RSC
One of the notable challengers to ICANN's control of the DNS namespace was Open RSC, a group which grew out of private discussions and morphed into a public mailing list which grew large enough the group decided to submit an application to the US government to run the DNS.[3]
Bylaws and articles of incorporation were posted outlining ORSC's position following extensive public discussion regarding the manner in which DNS was being run.[4][5]
ICANN chairwoman Esther Dyson acknowledged adopting features such as membership from ORSC in her response to the US Department of Commerce.[6]
ORSC publishes a root zone containing additional top level domains not found in the official root zone.
per— personal pagesetc— anythingweb— for the webshop— online shopspickle— just a general funny namesco— for Scottish culturemail- a tld for email - to reduce spam and clearly identify email servers.
Active private root zones
A number of organizations have alternative top-level domains configured on their internal DNS infrastructures, accessible only from within the enterprise. For instance, the National Security Agency operates the nsa domain; many NSA internal email addresses are of the form username@r21.r.nsa, mirroring the NSA organizational group structure.[citation needed]
Microsoft uses the domain phx.gbl for Hotmail, and MSN Messenger along with some other services. It is still visible in the headers of emails from Hotmail.[7]
See also
Notes
- ^ RFC 2826 (informational), IAB Technical Comment on the Unique DNS Root, Internet Architecture Board, The Internet Society (May 2000), Quote: "There is no getting away from the unique root of the public DNS." (page 5)
- ^ "Discussion between a member of FDN and OpenNIC members". http://www.opennicproject.org/forums?func=view&id=629&catid=10.
- ^ "ORSC proposal of 8 October 1998". Ntia.doc.gov. http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/domainname/proposals/orsc/ORSC_PRO.htm. Retrieved 2009-11-06.
- ^ "ORSC bylaws". Ntia.doc.gov. http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/domainname/proposals/orsc/bylaws.html. Retrieved 2009-11-06.
- ^ "ORSC articles of incorporation". Ntia.doc.gov. http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/domainname/proposals/orsc/ORSC_PRO.htm. Retrieved 2009-11-06.
- ^ "NTIA Reviewing ICANN November 6 Submission". Ntia.doc.gov. http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/press/icann111098.htm. Retrieved 2009-11-06.
- ^ On The Importance of Reverse DNS Artific Industries, 27 December 2005
External links
Categories:- Alternative DNS roots
- Domain name system
- Internet governance
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