DNS Root Server System Advisory Committee
The ICANN Bylaws (Article VII, Section 3(b)) describe the DNS Root Server System Advisory Committee as follows:
- There shall be a DNS Root Server System Advisory Committee. The initial chairman of the DNS Root Server System Advisory Committee shall be appointed by the Board; subsequent chairs shall be elected by the members of the DNS Root Server System Advisory Committee pursuant to procedures adopted by the members. The responsibility of the Root Server System Advisory Committee shall be to advise the Board about the operation of the root name servers of the domain name system. The Root Server System Advisory Committee should consider and provide advice on the operational requirements of root name servers, including host hardware capacities, operating systems and name server software versions, network connectivity and physical environment. The Root Server System Advisory Committee should examine and advise on the security aspects of the root name server system. Further, the Root Server System Advisory Committee should review the number, location, and distribution of root name servers considering the total system performance, robustness, and reliability.
The committee includes representatives of organizations responsible for operating the world’s thirteen root nameservers and other organizations concerned with stable technical operation of the authoritative root server system. ICANN Director Jun Murai has been appointed chair of this committee.
RSSAC Statements:
The committee meets periodically, usually in conjunction with IETF meetings. The committee’s organizational meeting was held in Singapore on 2 March 1999. Here is a list of committee meetings:
| Notes of meetings are linked where available. | ||
| MEETINGS IN 2009 | ||
35 |
08 November 2009 |
|
34 |
26 July 2009 |
|
| 33 | 22 March 2009 |
|
| MEETINGS IN 2008 | ||
32 |
16 November 2008 |
|
31 |
27 July 2008 |
|
| 30 | Philadelphia | 09 March 2008 |
| MEETINGS IN 2007 | ||
| 29 | Vancouver | 02 December 2007 |
| 28 | Chicago | 22 July 2007 |
| 27 | Prague | 18 March 2007 |
| MEETINGS IN 2006 | ||
| 26 | San Diego | 05 November 2006 |
| 25 | Montreal | 08 July 2006 |
| 24 | Dallas | 10 Mar 2006 |
| MEETINGS IN 2005 | ||
| 23 | Vancouver | 06 November 2005 |
| 22 | Paris | 31 July 2005 |
| 21 | Minneapolis, Minnesota | 06 March 2005 |
| MEETINGS IN 2004 | ||
| 20 | Washington DC | 07 November 2004 |
| 19 | San Diego | 01 August 2004 |
| 18 | Rome/Seoul telecon | 29 February 2004 |
| MEETINGS IN 2003 | ||
| 17 | Minneapolis, MN, USA | 09 November 2003 |
| 16 | Wien, Austria | 13 July 2003 |
| 15 | San Francisco, CA, USA | 24 March 2003 |
| MEETINGS IN 2002 | ||
| 14 | Atlanta, Georgia, USA | 16 November 2002 |
| 13 | Yokohama, Japan | 14 July 2002 |
| 12 | Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA | 17 March 2002 |
| MEETINGS IN 2001 | ||
| 11 | Salt Lake City, Utah, USA | 09 December 2001 |
| 10 | London, England | 05 August 2001 |
| 9 | Minneapolis, MN, USA | 18 March 2001 |
| MEETINGS IN 2000 | ||
| 8 | San Diego, CA, USA | 13 December 2000 |
| 7 | Pittsburgh, PA, USA | 31 July 2000 |
| 6 | Adelaide, Australia | 27 March 2000 |
| MEETINGS IN 1999 | ||
| 5 | Washington, DC, USA | 9 November 1999 |
| 4 | Oslo, Norway | 12 July 1999 |
| 3 | (no formal mtg) San Jose, CA, USA | 21 June 1999 |
| 2 | Minneapolis, MN, USA | 16 March 1999 |
| 1 | Singapore | 2 March 1999 |
Projects the committee has been pursuing include:
- The committee conducts projects under a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) between ICANN and the U.S. Government’s National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) and National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA).
The CRADA has been extended twice.
- The statement of work under the CRADA is as follows:
- The Statement of Work (SoW):The parties will collaborate on a study and process for making the management of the Internet (DNS) root server system more robust and secure. The collaboration will address:
- Operational requirements of root name servers, including host hardware capacities, operating system and name server software versions, network connectivity, and physical environment.Examination of the security aspects of the root name server system and review of the number, location, and distribution of root name servers considering the total system performance, robustness, and reliability.Development of operational procedures for the root system, including formalization of contractual relationships under which root servers throughout the world are operated.
- The study will address the technical management of the entire Internet (DNS) root server system, including all (currently thirteen) root servers located throughout the world and the techniques and equipment for generating, maintaining, and distributing authoritative root zone files. The study will include formulation of the operational procedures, requirements, and protocols referenced above through engineering analysis and will be accomplished with appropriate consultation with affected parties, including existing operators of the Internet root server system, through use of collaborator’s Root Server System Advisory Committee and otherwise. After operational procedures, requirements, and protocols are formulated, they will be evaluated by implementing them in a controlled manner on the Internet (DNS) root server system. Any change(s) in the designated authoritative source for root zone files must be approved by the Department of Commerce in a separate document and nothing in this SoW or this Agreement is intended to direct such a change.
- The Statement of Work (SoW):The parties will collaborate on a study and process for making the management of the Internet (DNS) root server system more robust and secure. The collaboration will address:
- In late 1999 and early 2000, the committee engaged in a major project to ensure that the root nameserver system operated smoothly through the various Y2K events. The committee issued a Y2K statement on 15 July 1999.
Work is proceeding on defining appropriate agreements and technical measures to operate the root nameserver system according to the guidance in RFC 2870. These requirements will be incorporated in a memorandum of understanding between each operator and ICANN. A model of the MoU has been developed.
The committee has been working on the development of a plan to enhance the architecture of the root-zone editing and distribution system. Jun Murai gave a presentation at the ICANN meeting in July 2000, after which the ICANN Board directed that a proposal be prepared for implementing the enhanced architecture, for presentation to the U.S. Department of Commerce.
The committee, with the help of the Cooperative Association for Internet Data Analysis (CAIDA), is engaged in gathering traffic and performance measurements and conducting statistical analysis of the measurements and other data to better understand the performance of the root nameserver system and to plan for future reconfigurations. - The committee is studying new technical developments that may affect the requirements for the root nameserver system, including IPv6, DNSSEC, and IDN.
Comments and quesitons to the Committee should be directed to rssac-comments@icann.org.