Rotserveroperatörer

Rotserveroperatörer are organizations responsible for operating the root servers of the Domain Name System (DNS). The root servers form the top level of the DNS hierarchy; they respond to queries about the root zone and direct resolvers to the authoritative servers for each top-level domain.

There are 13 root servers, named A through M. In practice, each root server operates many distributed instances across the globe using anycast addressing. This increases resilience, reduces latency, and improves availability.

Root server operators are a mix of private companies, universities, and public institutions. They are coordinated through the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) and overseen by the Root Server System Advisory Committee (RSSAC) and other governance bodies. The operators work with IANA to publish and maintain the root zone, which is then replicated to all root servers.

Responsibilities include maintaining reliable hardware and software, applying security measures and anti‑DDoS protections, and participating in incident response and protocol evolution (for example DNSSEC key signing key rollover). They also collaborate on monitoring, testing, and policy development to ensure global consistency of DNS responses.

The root server system dates back to the 1980s and is designed to be highly redundant and globally accessible. The term rotserveroperatörer captures the essential, though specialized, role these organizations play in Internet infrastructure, underpinning domain resolution and cross‑network navigation.