Name Resolving Question.

[Barry Margolin]

In article <200004102203.PAA15248 at zed.isi.edu>,
Bill Manning  <bmanning at ISI.EDU> wrote:
>% > % > I will get the list of root-servers for the .com tld.
>% > %
>% > % It just so happens that the root servers are also the "com" servers.
>% >
>% >         That was true at one time. It is increasingly -NOT- true.
>% 
>% Indeed. I guess I just haven't noticed the gradual migration over the years.
>% But there is still a high degree of overlap between the 2 server sets...
>% 
>% - Kevin
>
>
>To clarify, there were nine servers that housed both the root and com/net/org.
>In 1996/7, two servers dedicated to com/net/org were added as the first
>step in segregating the zones. Politics ensued. In the last month, two 
>of the traditional roots have shed the com/net/org zones and there is
>a plan in place to shed a couple every few weeks until there is sufficent
>seperation in place.

For the purposes of questions like the OP's, it's not really too important
to distinguish between root servers and COM/NET/ORG servers.  They're all
collectively configured from the WHOIS database.  As far as questions about
how DNS resolution works, the important distinction is generally between
servers "out there" that are configured from domain registrations, and
servers "in here" that actually contain the hosted data.  When questions
about subdomain delegation (esp. reverse domain delegation) some
intermediate servers become significant, but those are relatively rare.

But if your goal is to be anal retentive, please go ahead and submit posts
that merely correct "root server" to "COM server".

-- 
Barry Margolin, barmar at genuity.net
Genuity, Burlington, MA
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