RootNamensserver

Root name servers are the top-level servers in the Domain Name System (DNS). They are responsible for holding the DNS records for the top-level domains (TLDs) such as .com, .org, .net, and country-code TLDs like .uk or .de. When a user types a domain name into their browser, the request first goes to one of the root name servers.

There are 13 logical root name servers, identified by letters A through M. In reality, these 13 servers are distributed globally across many physical locations to improve performance and redundancy. These distributed instances are managed by various organizations. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is responsible for overseeing the root zone file.

When a DNS resolver, typically operated by an Internet Service Provider (ISP) or a large organization, needs to translate a domain name into an IP address, it first queries a root name server. The root server does not know the IP address of the requested domain directly, but it knows the IP addresses of the authoritative name servers for the TLD of the requested domain. It then returns this information to the resolver. The resolver then queries the appropriate TLD name server, and this process continues down the DNS hierarchy until the IP address is found.