Setting up a Root name server

[Jim Reid]

>>>>> "chris" == chris  <chris at megabytecoffee.com> writes:

    chris> So you are telling me that by having a root nameserver that
    chris> can answer query's faster I would not speed up my network?

That's right.

    chris> I Think your flame is flawed.

You might well think that, but that doesn't mean what you were told
wasn't true.

    chris> If my resolving DNS server has a list of root name servers
    chris> that at best are 40ms away. It is going to take A LOT more
    chris> time to access then a root nameserver that is say.. 2ms
    chris> away. Not to mention that most of the root nameservers
    chris> can't answer queries all the time. Sometimes
    chris> a.root-servers.net works great.. and other times it
    chris> sucks. By having a root server on our network with the best
    chris> RTT that can answer query's all the time, we bypass all
    chris> that.

This is utter nonsense.

First of all, whether it takes 40ms or 2ms to answer a query is, to
all intents and purposes, irrelevant. It might matter if you're
running www.altavista.com and getting millions of hits a day, but this
is not a typical site. Once a query is answered, the application has
to Do Something: like send packets, set up a TCP connection, fork a
new process, etc, etc. The latency of all that will usually be much
more significant than the few ms needed to do a DNS lookup.

Secondly, having a root server isn't going to "speed things up". That
name server will continue to refer you to the .com, .net etc name
servers. And it will keep track of the RTTs to those servers too, just
like a non-root server does. So where's the speed up?

Thirdly, lookups for names in the root zone are rare unless you have
broken DNS software or have things like WINS clients looking for
NetBIOS names in the DNS. There are easy solutions to those problems:
like fixing the configurations and/or installing up to date DNS
software. [Hint: name servers that support negative caching are your
friend.]

Fourthly, if your name server has trouble reaching the internet root
servers, it suggests there is a deeper problem: like poor connectivity
or a congested network link. Having your own root server isn't going
to fix those problems or even work around them. Your proposed root
name server would still have problems sending out queries and getting
the replies back.

Lastly, it is simply not true that "most of the root nameservers
can't answer queries all the time". If it were, there would be no
Internet because name lookup would be unreliable and unpredictable.
Most of the root name servers answer queries almost all of the time
(save for perhaps a window of perhaps 60 seconds every few days when
one of them gets reloaded or when the operator switches between the
production and standby systems). The root name servers are *very*
highly available: they have to be. Go and read RFC2010 and then think
about how to provide a service that meets the requirements of that
RFC. ISTR there was some interesting background on the operation of
the root name servers on ICANN's web site.

    chris> I'm not sure where you get off saying that I don't know how
    chris> DNS operates. 

Well it's quite clear from what you've posted that you don't really
understand the DNS. So it's hardly surprising if someone points that
out to you. If you say something silly in a public forum, it's not
unreasonable to expect that to be pointed out in public too.