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Asked: 2011-09-17 02:36:15 +0800 CST

Why isn't the root domain also a name server?

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I was trying to understand the inner workings of DNS.

To clarify things, when I say the root domain I mean the root domain without a name.

So when I type http://www.example.info, it will check the top-level domain .INFO and find out which IP example points to, and all is good.

Yet how does the browser know the IP of the top-level domain .INFO ?

So I was thinking the browser contacts the nameserver of the root domain. And the root domain will tell the browser .INFO is at 123.456.123.456.

But Wikipedia states:

Although any local implementation of DNS can implement its own private root name servers, the term "root name server" is generally used to describe the thirteen well-known root name servers that implement the root name space domain for the Internet's official global implementation of the Domain Name System.

I was wondering why is the root name server not the name server of the root domain ?

Why isn't the root domain also a name server?

domain-name-system internet nameserver tld

2 Answers

  1. your question isn't actually absolutly clear to me, but i try my best ;-)

    example: www.serverfault.com.

    if you read carefully, you will see there is a dot at the end. this dot is actually for the root servers. so you got [host].[domain].[top-level-domain].[root] because there's only ONE root, there is no need for a name after the last dot. the last dot is normally not written (except in configs of name servers e.g. BIND).

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  2. The root domain is just an abstract container with all the top-level domains in it (.com, .gov, .net, etc). It is not a server (or servers). The root name servers (letter.rootservers.net) manage the root domain.

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