[rssac-caucus] DNS Root Server System history - input

[Suzanne Woolf]

Hi,

A minor refinement on this occurs to me…

On Feb 11, 2016, at 9:14 AM, Steve Sheng <steve.sheng at icann.org> wrote:

> 
>> I think it would be nice to reintroduce software diversity when ripe NCC
>> took on the responsibility of k-root.  Im not sure of the history myself
>> but i was lead to believe that at this point most if not all root
>> servers where running bind which prompted RIPE NCC to work with NLnet
>> labs to produce NSD
> 
> Thanks John. This diversity is recorded on page 27 of the report.  
> 
> "In early 2000s, there were increasing concerns about the lack of diversity in name server software. The RIPE NCC partnered with NLnet Labs to design and develop an authoritative name server (NSD)50 from scratch. The RIPE NCC contributed requirements, input to the design and lab testing to the initial development of NSD. NSD was deployed on K-Root in 2003."


IIRC the concern was less about limited diversity in name server software than about limited diversity in open source name server software, i.e. the root server operators have always had a preference for open source because of the auditability it provides: it's always possible to see what your software is doing. This seemed important for the root, both for debugging (serving the root is sometimes a corner case) and for general transparency.

Both BIND and NSD are open source to this day. Other quality open source name server code bases have also appeared since those days, but I won't attempt to list them in case I leave someone out!


best,
Suzanne