Root anycast node enumeration

by Xun Fan and John Heidemann and Ramesh Govindan

This web page documents our observations of number of anycast sites of root name servers an an experiment done in May 2012.

Methodology: Briefly, we send CHAOS TXT query of name "hostname.bind" to IPv4 address of the root name server. We count the number of nodes according to different CHAOS records we get. Our results are based on the data collected from 60k Netalyzr clients from Dec. 2011 to Apr. 2012. For a detailed description of our methodology, please see our technical report ISI-TR-681.

The datasets used in this analysis are available as described at http://www.isi.edu/ant/traces/anycast/.

Intpretation and findings: We interpret the CHAOS records to infer the number of anycast nodes for each server.

Note that our method can't tell the difference between anycast nodes at different sites and anycast instances with different CHAOS replies at one site since CHAOS records are not standardized. We must infer when CHAOS records refer to different nodes or not. In some cases (such as H root) our assumption that each record is a site is incorrect.

We compare our findings to the number of sites published on root-servers.org (as of May 2012) and show the results in the following table. Please click the number to see detail CHAOS records we get for each root server.

Root name server
Number of different CHAOS records we find
 
Number of different sites (physical locations) published (as of May 2012)
A <
6
B =
1
C =
6
D =
1
E >
1
F >
49
G =
6
H >
2
I >
38
J <
70
K <
18
L <
107
M =
6

Specific CHAOS Patterns We Observe

A root:

(? stands for a single number)

ans??-lax?
ans??-nyc?

Note that we previously have different number (4) for A root, becasue of processing error on our part.

B root:

(? stands for a single number)

b?, b?.root-servers.net

C root:

({a,b} means "a" or "b")

lax1{a,b}.c.root-servers.org
fra1{a,b}.c.root-servers.org
ord1{a,b}.c.root-servers.org
jfk1{a,b}.c.root-servers.org
lax1{a,b}.c.root-servers.org
mad1{a,b}.c.root-servers.org

D root:

css-d.net.umd.edu

E root:

(? stands for a single number)

e?.arc.nasa.gov
e-0?.lhr.pch.net
e-0?.atl.pch.net
e-0?.lga.pch.net
e-0?.nrt.pch.net
e-0?.ord.pch.net
e-0?.sea.pch.net
e-0?.sna.pch.net
e-0?.syd.pch.net

F root:

(? stands for a single number, {a,b} means "a" or "b")

akl1a.f.root-servers.org
ams1{a,b}..f.root-servers.org
atl?{a,b}.f.root-servers.org
bcn1{a,b}.f.root-servers.org
bne1{a,b}.f.root-servers.org
ccs1{a,b}.f.root-servers.org
cdg1{a,b}.f.root-servers.org
cgk1{a,b}.f.root-servers.org
dac1{a,b}.f.root-servers.org
dar1s1.f.root-servers.org
den1a.f.root-servers.org
dxb1{a,b}.f.root-servers.org
eze1a.f.root-servers.org
fra1{a,b}.f.root-servers.org
gru1{a,b}.f.root-servers.org
hkg1b.f.root-servers.org
jnb1{a,b}.f.root-servers.org
kbp1{a,b}.f.root-servers.org
khi1a.f.root-servers.org
kix1{a,b}.f.root-servers.org
kul1a.f.root-servers.org
lax1{a,b}.f.root-servers.org
lcy?{a,b}.f.root-servers.org
lga1{a,b}.f.root-servers.org
lis1{a,b}.f.root-servers.org
maa1{a,b}.f.root-servers.org
mad1a.f.root-servers.org
mty1{a,b}.f.root-servers.org
nbo1a.f.root-servers.org
ord?{a,b}.f.root-servers.org
osl1{a,b}.f.root-servers.org
pao1{a,b}.f.root-servers.org
pek2a.f.root-servers.org
phl1a.f.root-servers.org
pnh1b.f.root-servers.org
prg1{a,b}.f.root-servers.org
pty1{a,b}.f.root-servers.org
rom1{a,b}.f.root-servers.org
scl1{a,b}.f.root-servers.org
sel1a.f.root-servers.org
sin1{a,b}.f.root-servers.org
sjc?{a,b}.f.root-servers.org
sjo1{a,b}.f.root-servers.org
svo1{a,b}.f.root-servers.org
sxm1{a,b}.f.root-servers.org
tgd1{a,b}.f.root-servers.org
tlv1{a,b}.f.root-servers.org
tpe1{a,b}.f.root-servers.org
trn1{a,b}.f.root-servers.org
uio1{a,b}.f.root-servers.org
uln1{a,b}.f.root-servers.org
yow1{a,b}.f.root-servers.org
yyz1{a,b}.f.root-servers.org

G root:

(? stands for a single number)

g.root-servers.net
g.root-servers2.net
g.root-servers-eur1-?.net
g.root-servers-eur2.net
g.root-servers-pac1.net, g.root-servers-pac1-?.net
g.root-servers-pac2-?.net

H root:

H1
H3
H3

* Since we only get these three different CHAOS records, we conclude there are three H root anycast nodes. However, the H root operator kindly correct us that these three only stands for three instances in a single node (site).

I root:

s1.amx
s1.amz
s1.ank
s1.bei
s1.bkx
s1.bnx
s1.chi
s1.dex
s1.fix
s1.gen
s1.hkx
s1.jak
s1.jnb
s1.jpp
s1.khi
s1.kul
s1.lnx
s1.lul
s1.mia
s1.mix
s1.mum
s1.nix
s1.par
s1.phi
s1.pix
s1.poa
s1.prt
s1.qtr
s1.rox
s1.sin
s1.sth
s1.tai
s1.tll
s1.tok
s1.ukx
s1.was
s1.wel
s1.wie
s1.yan

Note that we previously have different number (58) for I root, becasue of processing error on our part.

J root:

(? stands for a single number)

jns?-ams?
jluepe?-elbcn?
jluepe?-elbru?
jluepe?-elbsb?
jluepe?-elbue?
jluepe?-elcai?
jluepe?-elcgk?
jns?-chi?
jns?-cn
jluepe?-elcur?
jns?-dfw?
jluepe?-eldkr?
jluepe?-eldub?
jluepe?-eldyz?
jluepe?-eledi?
jluepe?-elgum?
jluepe?-elhel?
jluepe?-elhkg?
jluepe?-elhnl?
jluepe?-eliad?, jns?-iad?
jluepe?-eljnb?
jluepe?-elkul?
jluepe?-ellis?
jluepe?-ellju?
jns?-lon?
jluepe?-ellux?
jns?-mad?
jns?-mia?
jluepe?-elmln?
jluepe?-elmnl?
jluepe?-elmow?
jluepe?-elnbo?
jluepe?-elosl?
jluepe?-elotp?
jluepe?-elpar?, jns?-par?
jluepe?-elper?
jluepe?-elprg?
jluepe?-elrix?
jluepe?-elrom?
jns?-sea?
jns?-sfo?
jns?-sin?
jluepe?-el?
jluepe?-elsju?
jluepe?-elsof?
jluepe?-elstk?
jluepe?-elsyd?
jns?-tko?
jluepe?-eltll?
jluepe?-eltor?
jluepe?-eltrn?
jluepe?-elwaw?
jluepe?-elwlg?
jluepe?-elymx?
jluepe?-elzag?

K root:

(? stands for a single number)

k?.ams-ix.k.ripe.net
k?.apnic.k.ripe.net
k?.bix.k.ripe.net
k?.cern.k.ripe.net
k?.delhi.k.ripe.net
k?.denic.k.ripe.net
k?.emix.k.ripe.net
k?.ficix.k.ripe.net
k?.grnet.k.ripe.net
k?.isnic.k.ripe.net
k?.linx.k.ripe.net
k?.mix.k.ripe.net
k?.nap.k.ripe.net
k?.nskix.k.ripe.net
k?.poznan.k.ripe.net
k?.qtel.k.ripe.net
k?.tokyo.k.ripe.net

L root:

(? stands for a single number)

akl??.l.root-servers.org
ams??.l.root-servers.org
arn??.l.root-servers.org
atl??.l.root-servers.org
bah??.l.root-servers.org
ber??.l.root-servers.org
bne??.l.root-servers.org
bog??.l.root-servers.org
bru??.l.root-servers.org
bur??.l.root-servers.org
ccp??.l.root-servers.org
cdg??.l.root-servers.org
cjr??.l.root-servers.org
cph??.l.root-servers.org
cpt??.l.root-servers.org
dac??.l.root-servers.org
den??.l.root-servers.org
dkr??.l.root-servers.org
dmm??.l.root-servers.org
dub??.l.root-servers.org
dus??.l.root-servers.org
eze??.l.root-servers.org
gru??.l.root-servers.org
gum??.l.root-servers.org
her??.l.root-servers.org
hnl??.l.root-servers.org
hrk??.l.root-servers.org
ist??.l.root-servers.org
jed??.l.root-servers.org
jnb??.l.root-servers.org
kbp??.l.root-servers.org
ktm??.l.root-servers.org
lax??.l.root-servers.org
lga??.l.root-servers.org
lim??.l.root-servers.org
lux??.l.root-servers.org
lys??.l.root-servers.org
mia??.l.root-servers.org
mlb??.l.root-servers.org
mmx??.l.root-servers.org
mnl??.l.root-servers.org
mrs??.l.root-servers.org
muc??.l.root-servers.org
mvd??.l.root-servers.org
nrt??.l.root-servers.org
ord??.l.root-servers.org
ory??.l.root-servers.org
osl??.l.root-servers.org
per??.l.root-servers.org
phl??.l.root-servers.org
prg??.l.root-servers.org
ruh??.l.root-servers.org
run??.l.root-servers.org
scl??.l.root-servers.org
sea??.l.root-servers.org
sgw??.l.root-servers.org
sin??.l.root-servers.org
sjc??.l.root-servers.org
sof??.l.root-servers.org
syd??.l.root-servers.org
trn??.l.root-servers.org
vie??.l.root-servers.org
waw??.l.root-servers.org
wlg??.l.root-servers.org
ytz??.l.root-servers.org
yyz??.l.root-servers.org
zrh??.l.root-servers.org

M root:

(? stands for a single number)

M-CDG-?
M-ICN-?
M-NRT-DIXIE-?
M-NRT-JPIX-?
M-NRT-JPNAP-?
M-SFO-?