Alternative DNS root

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In addition to the Internet's main DNS root (currently consisting of 13 nominal root nameservers working in agreement with ICANN), several organizations operate alternative DNS roots (often referred to as alt roots). Each alternative root has its own set of root nameservers and its own set of top-level domains (TLDs).

The Internet Architecture Board has spoken out strongly against alternate roots in RFC 2826, "IAB Technical Comment on the Unique DNS Root".

Contents

[edit] Description

Alt roots can in general be divided into three groups: those run for idealistic or ideological reasons, those run as profit-making enterprises, and those run internally by an organization for its own use.

Whilst technically trivial to set up, actually running a reliable root server network in the long run is a serious undertaking, requiring multiple servers to be kept running 24x7 in geographically diverse locations. During the dot-com boom, some alt-root providers believed that there were substantial profits to be made from providing alternative top-level domains. Only a small proportion of ISPs actually use any of the zones served by alt-root operators, generally sticking to the ICANN-specified root servers. This in turn led to the commercial failure of several alternative DNS root providers.

The .biz TLD created by Pacific Root was in operation before ICANN proposed running .biz, and at least one of the alternative root servers resolves .biz to Pacific Root's. There are .biz domain names that exist in different roots and point to different IP addresses. The possibility of such conflicts, and their potential for destabilizing the Internet, is the main source of controversy surrounding alt roots. Many of the alternate roots try to coordinate with each other, but many do not - and they have no conflict resolution procedure between them.

[edit] List of alternative root zones

[edit] Active public root zones

  • Public-Root [1]
    • Public-Root resolves all 5 kinds of TLDs globally. It is created to offer an alternative, open DNS infrastructure with its own 13 root servers around the world.
  • OpenNIC [2]
    • .indy -- independent news
    • .geek -- anything geeky
    • .null -- miscellaneous non-commercial individual sites
    • .oss -- Open Source Software
    • .parody -- parodies
    • .fur -- furry related sites
  • Hebb Networks ATLD [3]
    • .per -- personal pages
    • .etc -- anything
    • .web -- for the web
    • .shop -- online shops
    • .pickle -- just a general funny name
    • .sco -- working with dotSCO.org to create a .sco atld for scottish culture.
  • New.Net [5]
    • .shop --
    • .travel -- conflicts with ICANN-sanctioned TLD
    • .tech --
    • .kids --
    • .church --
    • .game --
    • .mp3 --
    • .med --
    • .xxx --
    • .club --
    • .inc --
    • .law --
    • .family --
    • .sport --
  • UnifiedRoot [6]
    • UnifiedRoot enables viewing of all existing TLDs and allows new TLDs to be registered at a cost of $US 1000 each (plus annual maintenance fees of $US 250). On the user side, it works by modifying the user's DNS settings to point at UnifiedRoot's servers; it also offers a downloadable tool to do this on Windows. UnifiedRoot have also made agreements with ISPs and Telcos to enable access to the provided TLDs.
  • Cesidian Root [7] - alt root system that resolves ICANN root (265 TLDs), Cesidian Root proper (19 TLDs), China MII Root (3 TLDs), Arabic GCC Root (4 TLDs), and I-DNS.net Root (15 TLDs). It currently resolves the entire ICANN namespace of 265 TLDs as well as 41 additional TLDs, like:
    • .5wc
    • .amore
    • .baron
    • .bucksfan
    • .bucrafan
    • .cesidio
    • .cuseeme
    • .df
    • .italiana
    • .maxmv
    • .savoia
    • .tallini
    • .ttf
    • .university
    • .xn--fiqs8s -- (Chinese TLD in Punycode form standing for .中国 or .china)
    • .xn--55qx5d -- (Chinese TLD in Punycode form standing for .公司 or .com)
    • .xn--io0a7i -- (Chinese TLD in Punycode form standing for .网络 or .net)
  • Namespace [8]
    • Resolves too many zones to be listed here.
  • MobileTLD [9]
    • MobileTLD resolves domains for mobile devices.

[edit] Public root zones with an unknown status

[edit] Inactive public root zones

  • dot.love
    • .love
    • .thanks
    • .joy
    • .peace
    • .patience
    • .kind / .kindness
    • .gentle
    • .faith
    • .self
    • .yuck
    • .zen
    • .spirit
    • .wise
    • .truth
  • AlterNIC (stopped in 1997)
    • .exp --
    • .llc --
    • .lnx --
    • .ltd --
    • .med --
    • .nic --
    • .noc --
    • .porn --
    • .xxx --
  • eDNS (stopped in 1998)
    • .biz -- General business use
    • .corp -- For use by corporations
    • .fam -- For and about Family
    • .k12 -- For and about Kids
    • .npo -- Non-profit organizations
    • .per -- Personal Domain Name services
    • .web -- Web-based sites (ie: web pages)
  • Iperdome (stopped in 1999)
    • .per -- Personal Domain Name services
    • see the announcement
    • later the TLDs changed to:
      • .biz -- General business use
      • .corp -- For use by corporations
      • .gay -- For and about the Gay Community
      • .k12 -- For and about Kids
      • .npo -- Non-profit organizations
      • .pol -- Related to Poland and Polish organizations
      • .web -- Web-based sites (ie: web pages)
  • Pacific Root (many TLDs, not all listed here; apparently offline, see entry)
    • .ais --
    • .bio --
    • .cal --
    • .ind --
    • .job --
    • .lib --
    • .npo --
    • .ppp --
    • .sat --
    • .www --
    • .biz --
    • .etc --
    • .men --
    • .ngo --
    • .not --

[edit] 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 TLD; many NSA internal email addresses are of the form username@r21.r.nsa, mirroring the NSA organizational group structure.

[edit] Notes

    [edit] See also

    [edit] External links

     v • d • e Generic top-level domains
    Unsponsored  .biz  .com  .edu  .gov  .info  .int  .mil  .name  .net  .org
    Sponsored  .aero  .cat  .coop  .jobs  .mobi  .museum  .pro  .travel
    Infrastructure  .arpa  .root
    Startup phase  .asia  .tel
    Proposed  .berlin  .bzh  .cym  .gal  .geo  .kid  .kids  .mail  .nyc  .post  .sco  .web  .xxx
    Deleted/retired  .nato
    Reserved  .example  .invalid  .localhost  .test
    Pseudo-domains  .bitnet  .csnet  .local  .onion  .uucp
    Unofficial  see Alternative DNS roots
    See also: Country code top-level domains
    Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../a/l/t/Alternative_DNS_root_3904.html"
    In other languages