DNS Root Name Servers Explained
A DNS Root Name server is a server that answers on behalf of the DNS root Zone, and redirects requirements for a given TLD (Top Level Domain) to that particular TLD’s name servers. The term “root name server” is normally used to describe the thirteen organizations often referred to as the “root server operators”. They implement the root namespace domain for the Internet’s official universal implementation of the Domain Name System. The original thirteen members in alphabetical order are; A - VeriSign Global Registry Services ,B - Information Sciences Institute ,C - Cogent Communications ,D - University of Maryland ,E - NASA Ames Research Center ,F - Internet Systems Consortium, Inc. ,G - U.S. DOD Network Information Center ,H - U.S. Army Research Lab ,I - Autonomica/NORDUnet ,J - VeriSign Global Registry Services ,K - RIPE NCC ,L - ICANN ,M - WIDE Project. Global
Incidentally, the letters A-M represent the 13 numeric IPv4 addresses at which the service is provided. Each operator is tasked with providing consistent DNS service to the Internet from their specific address.
The empty string after the final dot in a domain name is called the root domain, and all other domains like .org, .net, etc are enclosed within the root domain. A computer connected to the Internet resolves a domain name by asking every name server about the element to its left working its way from the right. The root name servers know which servers are responsible for the top-level domains like .com and .org, which have their own servers. These servers then query name servers responsible for particular domain names, which in turn answers queries for IP addresses of sub domains.
The root zone file is at the summit of a hierarchical distributed database called the Domain Name System (DNS). All the Internet applications use this distributed database to translate distinctive domain names like www.onsiteil.com into various identifiers that use the DNS.
The root zone file also lists the names and numeric IP addresses of the valued DNS servers for all the top-level domains. Examples of such domains are COM and ORG. In case a given name server does not have information on a specific authoritative server, it transfers the query to a root name server.
Other name servers’ forward queries for which they do not have any information about authoritative servers to root name servers. The root name server then answers with a referral to the authoritative servers for the appropriate Top-Level Domain.
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