New I-Root Server Supports Internet in New Zealand
CityLink has today announced that a second Internet Root Server Mirror has been established in New Zealand. This
morning, an anycast mirror of the I-Root server went live at the Wellington Internet Exchange (WIX). This follows on
from the introduction of an F-Root mirror at the Auckland Peering Exchange (APE) last year.
This ensures that those organisations peering at APE or WIX have a distinct advantage of network speed, bandwidth
optimisation and cost savings whenever Internet Root Server access is required. The 13 Internet Root Servers now are
mirrored in almost 90 locations around the world, increasing the geographic diversity of the Internet, and assisting
greatly in reducing the impact of denial of service (DoS) attacks, optimising bandwidth, along with other network
advantages.
CityLink have received significant assistance from both Packet Clearing House and Autonomica in establishing the I-Root
mirror. Autonomica/NORDUnet operate the I-Root Server in Stockholm, and now have I-Root mirrors operating in Helsinki,
Milan, London, Geneva, Amsterdam, Oslo, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Brussels, Frankfurt, Ankara, Bucharest, Chicago, Washington,
Tokyo, Kuala Lumpur and now Wellington. Packet Clearing House is a not-for profit research institute that supports
Internet peering internationally, and global network development.
InternetNZ have commissioned CityLink to provide the I-Root mirror service at WIX for the next three years. President
Keith Davidson stated he is delighted that InternetNZ could provide assistance to the establishment of the mirror.
Mr Davidson congratulated Citylink on its commitment to neutral peering in New Zealand, and believed the addition of the
I-Root mirror at WIX strengthened Citylink's commitment. "As our organisation has an overarching philosophy of an open
and uncaptureable Internet in NZ, we naturally support organisations like Citylink, and the organisations who choose to
enter into neutral peering arrangements" Mr Davidson stated.
Mr Davidson, who attended the premier Asia Pacific Internet Conference, APRICOT, held last week in Kyoto, Japan noted
that many attendees were shocked that New Zealand has major ISPs withdrawing from peering, which will result in
increased costs and also downgrade performance for New Zealanders. "It seems remarkable that despite the simple fact of
offering their users faster and cheaper local access to Internet Root Servers by peering in New Zealand, some
organisations would elect to de-peer" Mr Davidson said.
The root server system is a system of 13 file servers that are distributed around the globe and contain authoritative
databases that form a master list of all top level domain names (TLDs), including Country Code TLD's (ccTLD's) like .nz.
The function of the root servers, the highest-level authoritative databases of the domain-name system (DNS), is to
direct queries to the authoritative nameservers for the top-level domain names. Root servers do not route traffic and
they do not even resolve traffic, but they hold the addresses of servers on which ultimate resolution of all 60 million
domain names relies.