Review of the DNS Root Server Advisory Committee (RSSAC)
13 March 2009
Background
In accordance with Article XI, Section 2 of the Bylaws , the role of the Root Server System Advisory Committee ("RSSAC") is to advise the Board about the operation of the root name servers of the domain name system. The RSSAC considers and provides advice on the operational requirements of root name servers, including host hardware capacities, operating systems and name server software versions, network connectivity and physical environment. The RSSAC also examines and advises on the security aspects of the root name server system, as well as reviews the number, location, and distribution of root name servers considering the total system performance, robustness, and reliability.Membership in the RSSAC consists of (i) each operator of an authoritative root name server (as listed at ftp://ftp.internic.net/domain/named.root), and (ii) such other persons as are appointed by the ICANN Board. The Chair is elected by the members of the DNS Root Server System Advisory Committee pursuant to procedures adopted by the members. The RSSAC appoints one non-voting liaison to the ICANN Board of Directors.
The RSSAC meets periodically, usually in conjunction with IETF meetings.
For more information about the RSSAC, see http://www.icann.org/committees/dns-root/
Update
The Board appointed Westlake Consulting as the external reviewers of the RSSAC. The consultants started their assignment during the Cairo meeting in November 2008, where they interviewed and received inputs from members of the community. They also attended the following IETF meeting in Minneapolis to observe the RSSAC meeting and to interview RSSAC members.
The consultants released their draft Final Report [PDF, 349K] the 20 February 2009, which was presented for discussion at the ICANN Meeting in Mexico City in March 2009.
The 10 March 2009 the consultants released the finalized version of their Final Report [PDF, 2,564K], changing the order of some sections and modifying the wording of some recommendations in order to improve comprehensibility. A redlined version [PDF, 483K] of this document, highlighting changes between the two versions is available, as well.
A public comment period of consultants’ Final Report is open until the 17 April 2009 in order to gather comments from the community. All comments received will be considered, even if referring to the draft version of the report.
The Full Report of the external consultants [PDF, 350K] is available in English.
Next steps
A presentation of the reviewers’ report will be organized in San Francisco at the RSSAC meeting the 22 March 2009 in order to gather feedbacks from the RSSAC community.
At the end of the public comment period, the RSSAC review Working Group will formulate its recommendations to the Board, taking into consideration the feedbacks received from the community.
Links
- BGC RSSAC Review Working Group Charter
- Request for Proposal and Terms of Reference
- Executive Summary of the external reviewers’ draft report [EN, PDF, 58K]
- Draft report of the external reviewers [EN, PDF, 350K]
- Executive Summary of the external reviewers’ report (finalized version) [EN, PDF, 424K]
- Final report of external reviewers (finalized version) [EN, PDF, 2,564K]
- Final report of external reviewers (finalized, redlined version) [EN, PDF, 483K]
- Public comments to the draft report of the external reviewers