RFC 2870 (rfc2870) - Page 2 of 10


Root Name Server Operational Requirements



Alternative Format: Original Text Document



RFC 2870       Root Name Server Operational Requirements       June 2000


   1.1 The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)
       has become responsible for the operation of the root servers.
       The ICANN has appointed a Root Server System Advisory Committee
       (RSSAC) to give technical and operational advice to the ICANN
       board.  The ICANN and the RSSAC look to the IETF to provide
       engineering standards.

   1.2 The root servers serve the root, aka ".", zone.  Although today
       some of the root servers also serve some TLDs (top level domains)
       such as gTLDs (COM, NET, ORG, etc.), infrastructural TLDs such as
       INT and IN-ADDR.ARPA, and some ccTLDs (country code TLDs, e.g. SE
       for Sweden), this is likely to change (see 2.5).

   1.3 The root servers are neither involved with nor dependent upon the
       'whois' data.

   1.4 The domain name system has proven to be sufficiently robust that
       we are confident that the, presumably temporary, loss of most of
       the root servers should not significantly affect operation of the
       internet.

   1.5 Experience has shown that the internet is quite vulnerable to
       incorrect  data in the root zone or TLDs.  Hence authentication,
       validation, and security of these data are of great concern.

2. The Servers Themselves

   The following are requirements for the technical details of the root
   servers themselves:

   2.1 It would be short-sighted of this document to specify particular
       hardware, operating systems, or name serving software.
       Variations in these areas would actually add overall robustness.

   2.2 Each server MUST run software which correctly implements the IETF
       standards for the DNS, currently [RFC 1035] [RFC 2181].  While
       there are no formal test suites for standards compliance, the
       maintainers of software used on root servers are expected to take
       all reasonable actions to conform to the IETF's then current
       documented expectations.

   2.3 At any time, each server MUST be able to handle a load of
       requests for root data which is three times the measured peak of
       such requests on the most loaded server in then current normal
       conditions.  This is usually expressed in requests per second.
       This is intended to ensure continued operation of root services
       should two thirds of the servers be taken out of operation,
       whether by intent, accident, or malice.



Bush, et al.             Best Current Practice