Alternative DNS root

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".

Description

The DNS root zone consists of pointers to authoritative DNS servers for Global Top Level Domain (like .com and .net) and Country Code Top Level Domain zones (like .us, .uk, and .tv). A collection of "traditional" root servers independently operated by many organizations around the internet use a list of these domains which is managed by ICANN. Alternative roots typically include pointers to all of the TLD servers delegated by ICANN, as well as TLD servers for other top-level domains (like .new, .nic, and .web) which are not delegated by ICANN, but run by other independent organizations. Some, but not all, alt-roots are operated by the organizations which in turn manage these alternative TLDs.

Alternative DNS 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 24/7 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.

A .biz TLD created by Pacific Root was in operation before ICANN approved a .biz run by Neulevel, and for some time after the creation of the ICANN-sanctioned .biz several alt roots continued to resolve .biz to Pacific Root's rather than Neulevel's. There were therefore .biz domain names that 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 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.

List of alternative roots and the non-ICANN zones they include

This section lists the known alternate DNS roots, and for each root, lists the non-ICANN GTLDs which that root carries in addition to the ICANN-sanctioned GTLDs and ccTLDs.

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

Website: [2]

• .free — non-commercial use of the internet
• .geek — anything geeky
• .null — miscellaneous non-commercial individual sites
• .oss — Open Source Software
• .parody — parodies
• .dyn - Approved by the OpenNIC Community, and will be introduced in mid-2008. Used to resolve Dynamic DNS.
• .glue — Sites related to infrastructure
• .fur — furry related sites (no longer in use)
• .indy — independent news (no longer in use)

Open Root Server Network (ORSN)

Website: [3]

• Currently a mirror of the ICANN root, but designed to be changed at any time.

New.Net

Website: [4]

• .agent —
• .arts —
• .auction —
• .chat —
• .shop —
• .free —
• .golf —
• .llc —
• .love —
• .ltd —
• .school —
• .scifi —
• .soc —
• .video —
• .travel — conflicts with ICANN-sanctioned TLD
• .tech —
• .kids —
• .church —
• .game —
• .mp3 —
• .med —
• .xxx —
• .club —
• .inc —
• .law —
• .family —
• .sport —

UnifiedRoot

Website: [5]

• UnifiedRoot enables viewing of all existing TLDs and allows new TLDs to be registered at a cost of €750 each (plus annual maintenance fees of €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.

Namespace

Website: [6]

• Resolves too many zones to be listed here.

MobileTLD

Website: [7]

• MobileTLD resolves domains for mobile devices.

Public root zones with an unknown status

Open Root Server Confederation (ORSC)

Hebb Networks ATLD Website: [8]

• .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.

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)

• .ais —
• .bio —
• .cal —
• .ind —
• .job —
• .lib —
• .npo —
• .ppp —
• .sat —
• .www —
• .biz —
• .etc —
• .men —
• .ngo —
• .not —

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.

See also

• Open Root Server Confederation
• Open Root Server Network
• ICANN, especially the #Alternatives section
• OpenDNS
• WSIS
• RealNames
• OpenNIC

External links

Links relating to alternate DNS Roots

• UnifiedRoot
• OpenNIC
• Open Root Server Confederation
• Open Root Server Network (ORSN)
• Public-Root
• Cesidian Root
• ORSN Discussed on CircleID