DNS root zone

The DNS root zone is the top-level DNS zone in the hierarchical namespace of the Domain Name System (DNS) of the Internet.

Before October 1, 2016, the root zone had been overseen by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) which delegates the management to a subsidiary acting as the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA).[1] Distribution services are provided by Verisign. Prior to this, ICANN performed management responsibility under oversight of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), an agency of the United States Department of Commerce.[2] Oversight responsibility transitioned to the global stakeholder community represented within ICANN's governance structures.

A combination of limits in the DNS definition and in certain protocols, namely the practical size of unfragmented User Datagram Protocol[2] (UDP) packets, resulted in a practical maximum of 13 root name server addresses that can be accommodated in DNS name query responses. However the root zone is serviced by several hundred servers at over 130 locations in many countries.[3][4]

  1. ^ "Stewardship of IANA Functions Transitions to Global Internet Community as Contract with U.S. Government Ends". October 1, 2016. Retrieved December 25, 2017.
  2. ^ a b Jerry Brito (March 5, 2011). "ICANN vs. the World". Time.
  3. ^ "There are not 13 root servers". www.icann.org. Retrieved January 18, 2018.
  4. ^ "DNS root servers in the world « stupid.domain.name". stupid.domain.name. Archived from the original on February 11, 2021. Retrieved January 18, 2018.