Samiksha Jaiswal (Editor)

Open Root Server Network

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Open Root Server Network

Open Root Server Network (ORSN) is a network of Domain Name System root nameservers for the Internet. ORSN DNS root zone information is normally kept in synchronization with the "official" Domain Name System root nameservers coordinated by ICANN. The networks are thus 100% compatible, though ORSN is operated independently. The ORSN servers are primarily placed in Europe. ORSN is also used by public name servers, providing Domain Name System access freely for everyone, without any limitation.

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ORSN was primarily started to reduce the over-dependence of Internet users on the United States and Department of Commerce/IANA/ICANN/VeriSign, limit the control over the Internet that this gives, while ensuring that domain names remain unambiguous. And to avoid the technical possibility of global "Internet shutdown" by one party. They also expect their network to make domain name resolutions faster for everyone.

Markus Grundmann, Germany is the founder of ORSN, and author of ORSN distributed system management and monitoring software solution.

Paul Vixie, the main designer of BIND, the UNIX de facto standard DNS server, is a high-profile proponent of the ORSN. Paul Vixie is member of Security and Stability Advisory Committee of ICANN, he served on the Board of Trustees of the American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN) from 2005 to 2013, also as ARIN chairman in 2009 and 2010.

ORSN has 2 operating modes:

  • ICANN BASED (default) operating mode involves daily synchronization, except that removed TLDs are not removed from the ORSN root.
  • INDEPENDENT mode has no automatic synchronization and is activated "whenever the political situation of the world - in our opinion - makes this step necessary because the possibility of a modification and/or a downtime of the ICANN root zone exists or we do not want that our root zone will rebuild automatically."
  • ORSN operated from February 2002 until the end of 2008. ORSN operates again since June 2013. Several Internet service providers in Europe used ORSN as a root for their name servers.

    ORSN root nameservers

    ORSN root server system consists of 13 root servers, a distributed system connected on a secure VPN, for synchronization and management. All of the 13 servers are running on FreeBSD and BIND. Monitoring and management daemon was developed by founder, Markus Grundmann.

    table data from ORSN Root Zone Version: 2015022600
    ORSN Root Server Systems Technical Information

    ORSN Public DNS Servers

    ORSN Public DNS Servers are operated by the community of ORSN, providing Domain Name System access freely for everyone, without any limitation. ORSN public DNS servers respect privacy, do not log usage. These DNS servers are an alternate option for users that don't have a local ORSN-ready server or in the case that the local ISP doesn't support the use of ORSN. All registered servers are monitored constantly, for availability and the right functionality in the ORSN root server environment.

    ORSN Public DNS data last updated on 22 October 2015.
    source: Official ORSN Public DNS live data and monitoring.

    References

    Open Root Server Network Wikipedia