Editing DNS root zone (section)

{{Short description|Top-level DNS zone}}
{{Use American  English|date=January 2019}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2022}}
The '''DNS root zone''' is the top-level DNS zone in the hierarchical namespace of the Domain Name System (DNS) of the Internet.

Before October 1, 2016, the root zone had been overseen by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) which delegates the management to a subsidiary acting as the [[Internet Assigned Numbers Authority]] (IANA).<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.icann.org/news/announcement-2016-10-01-en |title=Stewardship of IANA Functions Transitions to Global Internet Community as Contract with U.S. Government Ends |date=October 1, 2016 |access-date=December 25, 2017}}</ref> Distribution services are provided by Verisign. Prior to this, ICANN performed management responsibility under oversight of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), an agency of the United States [[Department of Commerce]].<ref name=":0">{{cite news|url=https://techland.time.com/2011/03/05/icann-vs-the-world/ |title=ICANN vs. the World |date=March 5, 2011 |author=Jerry Brito |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]}}</ref> Oversight responsibility transitioned to the [[Internet governance|global stakeholder community]] represented within ICANN's governance structures.

A combination of limits in the DNS definition and in certain protocols, namely the practical size of unfragmented User Datagram Protocol<ref name=":0" /> (UDP) packets, resulted in a practical maximum of 13 root name server addresses that can be accommodated in DNS name query responses. However the root zone is serviced by several hundred servers at over 130 locations in many countries.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.icann.org/news/blog/there-are-not-13-root-servers|title=There are not 13 root servers|website=www.icann.org|language=en|access-date=January 18, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://stupid.domain.name/node/407|title=DNS root servers in the world « stupid.domain.name|website=stupid.domain.name|language=en-US|access-date=January 18, 2018|archive-date=February 11, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210211045935/https://stupid.domain.name/node/407|url-status=dead}}</ref>