ICANN, Internet Society, AFRINIC partner to deployed Root name server at iHub

According to a post published on iHub’s official blog, by Paul Muchene, the server is intended to assist local network operators to resolve DNS queries more expeditiously and therefore reducing latencies.

“The server is accessible in both IPv4 and IPv6,” Muchene wrote. “Root name servers are an integral if not the most important part of the directory of the Internet known the domain name system or DNS. DNS is more than three decades old but it is so essential for everyday online activities that many take it for granted. Anytime you type an address or access an app such as WhatsApp, Twitter, Netflix … you’ll interact with DNS albeit in the background,” Muchene added on his post.

When you access a website on your browser or via an app a set of background processes occur that allows you to get access. In DNS parlance the website represents a string however, the website is only assigned IP address/addresses e.g. 23.21.190.124 and thus does not quite understand what a string is.

“DNS is supposed to address this problem and map a string to an IP address and conversely an address to a string,” the post continued.

Through the post Muchene explains that root servers sit at the very top of DNS. The DNS reads the websites string adding a dot at the end. This dot represents the root zone, which underpins ALL domain names.

“When your device or app is locating any service on the Internet it usually begins at the root. Currently there are 13 groups of root name servers each identified with the labels A to M mirrored across the world that handle this function,” concludes Muchene on the blog post.