subject: The Master List Of All Nameservers [print this page] A root server is nothing but a server that lists the names of all top-level domains i.e. TLD. For example .com, .net, .org etc are the top level domains and the root server stores all the authoritative name servers of these Top Level Domains. The root server also called as the root nameserver is a very important part of the digital world as it helps in translating the human language into the internet language i.e. the human readable host names (In human language) into IP addresses (Internet or digital language).
Another important thing that you have to understand while talking about root server is the DNS server. DNS is nothing but Domain Name System. The domain name is the term used for computers or services that participate in the internet. The root zone of the DNS server is the one which is named as the root server. The number of root server addresses in the DNS query is thirteen at the moment primarily because of the limitations in the DNS and also due to the protocols like User Datagram Protocol (UDP) packets. But these 13 clusters are enough to serve the needs of all the clients and general public worldwide.
Now that we have learnt about Domain Name System, it would be appropriate if we learn about the Root Domain. As mentioned earlier, Domain name is a hierarchy and it is the name used for resources or computers that participate in the internet. The first name that comes in this hierarchy is the root domain. The root domain is the one which stores all the top-level domains including the generic top level domains (gTLD), country code top level domains (ccTLD), ARPA domains etc. As of now, there are 20 gTLD and 248 ccTLD.
Another important thing regarding root server is the resolver operation. Whenever a computer having an internet connection falls short or is unduly affected due to some sort of digital attacks or failure of any sorts, it makes use of the resolver operation to mitigate this failure. For example, if at all there is any problem, the first thing that the DNS does is to check the root servers or the root nameservers. This is because root servers are the ones which are mostly affected by online threats. Moreover, if you see it is the internet cache and cookies that cause these problems rather than any serious threats. Hence the resolver operation clears all these cache and cookies that affect the root servers thereby delivering the internet connection.
The names of operator (along with its IPv4 address) of all the thirteen root servers are listed here. VeriSign (198.41.0.4; 192.58.128.30), USC-ISI (192.228.79.201), Cogent Communications, 192.33.4.12, University of Maryland (128.8.10.90), NASA (192.203.230.10), Internet Systems Consortium (192.5.5.241), Defense Information Systems Agency (192.112.36.4), U.S. Army Research (128.63.2.53), Autonomica (192.36.148.17), RIPE NCC (193.0.14.129), ICANN (199.7.83.42), WIDE Project (202.12.27.33).
