FW: First? TRUE Root Name Server On Line

Mailman List Mirror (Read Only)
1

RE: First? TRUE Root Name Server On Line
Name: NS2.NIC.EARTH
IP Address: 199.5.157.5

When history is made on the Internet, it is important to briefly pause
to recognize the event, and then move forward. Recently, one of the
first TRUE Root Name Servers was put into service by John Palmer
of The American Global Network, Inc. (AGN.NET) [1]. AGN is the owner
and operator of the Top Level Domain Registry for the .EARTH and
.USA TLDs.

There are several factors which make this particular Root Name
Server unique:

  1. First and foremost, this appears to be the first, public
    access, Root Name Server which operates as
    a TRUE NON-RECURSIVE Root Server [2]. This is a
    requirement which is part of the new root name server
    guidelines which are being discussed by the IETF and
    other engineering groups. The 9 "popular" root name
    servers use by many ISPs do NOT meet these
    guidelines and resolve second level names.[3]
    True root name servers should do nothing but return
    references to TLD Name Servers [2], to reduce the
    scope of their control and their overall load.

  2. The official name of this root name server is...NS2.NIC.EARTH.
    Because of the growing availability of access to the
    new Top Level Domains, such as .EARTH, it seems
    appropriate to begin naming the new Root Name Servers
    with the newly available names.

  3. This Root Name Server can be added to the growing collection
    of Root 64 Name Servers which can be freely used
    by ISPs in their "root.cache" files. Because this Root
    Name Server is supported by a commercial enterprise,
    and not a hodge podge of volunteers (or the U.S.
    Government), ISPs can use this Root Name Server to
    help bring added stability and performance to their
    systems. [4] [5]

In these times where confusion is being caused by groups who think
that they can continue to debate the Top Level Domain issues primarily
to prevent businesses (registries, ISPs, etc.) from making progress, it
is important to recognize the efforts being made by business people to
bring stability to the system and better service to consumers.

As has been proven over and over during the past year, new commercial
Top Level Domains are a reality along with new commercial Root Name
Servers. The business community is rising to the challenge of building
a better, more complete, and better engineered Internet now that the
research and development is largely over.

More commercial Root Name Servers are being installed and tested.
As news of their introduction becomes available the "newdom" mailing
list seems like the best place to keep everyone informed. The web
interface for subscribing to that list can be found at:
    http://www.newdom.com/lists/
    
@@@@@@ [1] @@@@@@@@@

Result of: whois 199.5.156

The American Global Network, Inc. (NETBLK-RABBIT2)
   31511 Harper Ave.
   St. Clair Shores, MI 48082

   Netname: NETBLK-RABBIT2
   Netblock: 199.5.156.0 - 199.5.157.0

   Coordinator:
      Palmer, John P. (JP4736) jp@AGN.NET
      800-456-0094 (FAX) 810-790-0156

   Domain System inverse mapping provided by:

   SIMBA.AGN.NET 160.79.1.3
   NS.AGN.NET 160.79.1.1

   Record last updated on 18-Jan-96.

@@@@@@ [2] @@@@@@@@@

Result of: dig @199.5.157.5 mcs.com any

; <<>> DiG 2.1 <<>> @199.5.157.5 mcs.com any
; (1 server found)
;; res options: init recurs defnam dnsrch
;; got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 10
;; flags: qr rd; Ques: 1, Ans: 0, Auth: 9, Addit: 9
;; QUESTIONS:
;; mcs.com, type = ANY, class = IN

;; AUTHORITY RECORDS:
COM. 172800 NS A.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.
COM. 172800 NS H.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.
COM. 172800 NS B.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.
COM. 172800 NS C.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.
COM. 172800 NS D.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.
COM. 172800 NS E.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.
COM. 172800 NS I.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.
COM. 172800 NS F.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.
COM. 172800 NS G.ROOT-SERVERS.NET.

;; ADDITIONAL RECORDS:
A.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. 518400 A 198.41.0.4
H.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. 518400 A 128.63.2.53
B.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. 518400 A 128.9.0.107
C.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. 518400 A 192.33.4.12
D.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. 518400 A 128.8.10.90
E.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. 518400 A 192.203.230.10
I.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. 518400 A 192.36.148.17
F.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. 518400 A 192.5.5.241
G.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. 518400 A 192.112.36.4

;; Total query time: 29 msec
;; FROM: doorstep.unety.net to SERVER: 199.5.157.5
;; WHEN: Sat Nov 23 10:59:28 1996
;; MSG SIZE sent: 25 rcvd: 332

@@@@@@ [3] @@@@@@@@@

Result of: dig @a.root-servers.net mcs.com any

; <<>> DiG 2.1 <<>> @a.root-servers.net mcs.com any
; (1 server found)
;; res options: init recurs defnam dnsrch
;; got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 10
;; flags: qr rd; Ques: 1, Ans: 2, Auth: 2, Addit: 2
;; QUESTIONS:
;; mcs.com, type = ANY, class = IN

;; ANSWERS:
mcs.com. 172800 NS CEREBUS.mcs.com.
mcs.com. 172800 NS KITTEN.mcs.com.

;; AUTHORITY RECORDS:
mcs.com. 172800 NS CEREBUS.mcs.com.
mcs.com. 172800 NS KITTEN.mcs.com.

;; ADDITIONAL RECORDS:
CEREBUS.mcs.com. 172800 A 192.160.127.125
KITTEN.mcs.com. 172800 A 192.160.127.90

;; Total query time: 88 msec
;; FROM: doorstep.unety.net to SERVER: a.root-servers.net 198.41.0.4
;; WHEN: Sat Nov 23 12:31:25 1996
;; MSG SIZE sent: 25 rcvd: 128

@@@@@@ [4] @@@@@@@@@

Sample Traceroute to the NEW Root Server

1 chi00-s8-3.nap.net (206.54.225.89) 4.131 ms 4.066 ms 4.211 ms
2 core0-atm0.chi.nap.net (207.112.247.33) 4.013 ms 4.913 ms 4.309 ms
3 909.Hssi3-0.GW2.CHI1.ALTER.NET (137.39.130.173) 5.988 ms 5.735 ms 5.69 ms
4 Fddi1.CR1.CHI1.Alter.Net (137.39.38.193) 5.555 ms 6.243 ms 6.533 ms
5 106.Hssi3-0.GW1.DET1.Alter.Net (137.39.58.58) 14.022 ms 15.304 ms 15.322 ms
6 agn-gw.ALTER.NET (137.39.146.6) 18.409 ms 20.191 ms 19.351 ms
7 NS2.NIC.EARTH (199.5.157.5) 17.695 ms 18.895 ms 17.738 ms

@@@@@@ [5] @@@@@@@@@

Sample Ping to NEW Root Server for above route.

# ping -c 5 199.5.157.5
PING 199.5.157.5 (199.5.157.5): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 199.5.157.5: icmp_seq=0 ttl=247 time=19.313 ms
64 bytes from 199.5.157.5: icmp_seq=1 ttl=247 time=20.071 ms
64 bytes from 199.5.157.5: icmp_seq=2 ttl=247 time=18.218 ms
64 bytes from 199.5.157.5: icmp_seq=3 ttl=247 time=19.377 ms
64 bytes from 199.5.157.5: icmp_seq=4 ttl=247 time=18.007 ms

--- 199.5.157.5 ping statistics ---
5 packets transmitted, 5 packets received, 0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max = 18.007/18.997/20.071 ms

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

2

Mr. Flemming,

Hello. While I can understand your enthusiasm at bringing up the first
TRUE Root Name Server to take into account the interplanetary nature of
the network, I think that you perhaps have been misinformed about the
nature of the NANOG.

Interplanetary networking is surely a pressing topic, and one in which
many, dare I say even four, of us might care about. Nonetheless, NANOG is
a purely earth-concerned network group. In fact, NANOG isn't even
concerned with the network which spans our present planet of habitation,
only the portion thereof which lies in the North American continent.

As the network expands to other planets and solar systems, I am sure that
many groups similar to NANOG will be springing up across the galaxy.
Notifying each of them of the developments in inter-planetary networking
would be a tedious and, given the high latency of space-based IP links,
difficult matter. In fact, using discussion fora such as NANOG to inform
network operators of the developments in the universal network necessarily
wastes bandwidth on delivering such messages to people who don't care and
are highly annoyed at such off-topic ravings of a certified net.loon.

Might I humbly suggest that you create your own mailing list for network
operators in this cosmos and others, and keep your annoying and insane
rantings out of the NANOG list, where they have no place and are
unappreciated? Those of us who are concerned with inter-planetary
networking, I am sure, will be among the first to subscribe.

After all, if NANOG is so short-sighted in its areaq of emphasis, I am
sure that your new mailing list will soon displace NANOG as a prime area
for discussion among a larger, multi-species group of network operators.

Right?

Sincerely yours,

Todd Lewis.

3

Yeah, right.

When I asked 199.5.157.5 about records for ".", it returned an
"authoritative" answer containing the following bogus information:

    ;; ANSWERS:
    . 86400 SOA MX.ALTERNIC.NET. ROOT.ARAGORN.ALTERNIC.NET. (
          1996110715 ; serial
          10800 ; refresh (3 hours)
          900 ; retry (15 mins)
          604800 ; expire (7 days)
          86400 ) ; minimum (1 day)
    . 518400 NS ALTER.NIC.
    . 518400 NS MX.ALTERNIC.NET.
    . 518400 NS ROOT-NS.MCS.NET.
    . 518400 NS TORONTO.ALTERNIC.NET.
    . 518400 NS ARAGORN.ALTERNIC.NET.

    ;; AUTHORITY RECORDS:
    . 518400 NS ALTER.NIC.
    . 518400 NS MX.ALTERNIC.NET.
    . 518400 NS ROOT-NS.MCS.NET.
    . 518400 NS TORONTO.ALTERNIC.NET.
    . 518400 NS ARAGORN.ALTERNIC.NET.

    ;; ADDITIONAL RECORDS:
    ALTER.NIC. 86400 A 204.94.42.5
    MX.ALTERNIC.NET. 86400 A 204.94.42.1
    ROOT-NS.MCS.NET. 518400 A 192.160.127.86
    TORONTO.ALTERNIC.NET. 86400 A 207.107.232.106
    ARAGORN.ALTERNIC.NET. 86400 A 204.94.42.2

Astute readers will notice that the list of alleged root servers in the
answer from 199.5.157.5 does not include 199.5.157.5 itself. Astute
readers will further notice that the Internet's real root servers
a.root-servers.net, b.root-servers.net, etc., are not mentioned in the
answer from the bogus "root server" 199.5.157.5.

--apb (Alan Barrett)