With support from AfriNIC, the Internet Registry for Africa, and RIPE, Operator of the "K" DNS root server, we were able to establish an additional copy of the "K" DNS root server in Dar es Salaam, at the Tanzania Internet Exchange - TIX.
RIPE is one of the 12 operators of DNS root servers and operates 18 instances of this service around the world. All are reachable at the same address through a system called Anycast, which helps to always reach the closest available server.
The root name servers are a critical part of the Internet because they are the first step in translating (resolving) human readable host names into IP addresses that are used in communication between Internet hosts. After Johannesburg, Nairobi and Cairo, Dar es Salaam is the 4th city in Africa to host a copy of a DNS root server. Through active involvement with AfriNIC and the internet engineering community TISPA did get this server deployed here. The implementation in Dar is the first for AfriNIC's Root Server Anycast Copy Program.
Remote access to the equipment for the operators is sponsored by SimbaNet and Africa Online, whom we thank for their support.
This new service at TIX will enable DNS servers at ISPs to resolve more quickly. The time it takes after entering an address in your browser until the connection gets established will be reduced in some instances. It will also make the Internet services and users in Tanzania more independent, as these requests can now be served from inside the country.
Also, in case there might be a major disruption of the main international links connecting us to the internet, we have now the ability to resolve all DNS names in our country's top-level domain .tz from servers within Tanzania. For finding the IP address for a name you put in your browser, the DNS server at your ISP can now contact the root server at TIX, a server for .tz recently introduced at tzNIC, and will be referred to the server for the destination domain. This is thanks to another improvement recently done at tzNIC who now serve all information regarding .tz domains.
Another benefit is that through the many instances of the DNS root servers any attack through denial of service on them will be directed to the closest server and only that one will be affected, giving more stability to the overall system. Like many other developments we witnessed recently, this is another step for the improvement of Internet services in Tanzania and TISPA is excited to be part of this one.
For more information about DNS root servers:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dns_root_server
http://www.root-servers.org/
http://www.isoc.org/briefings/019/
about RIPE:
http://www.ripe.net/
http://k.root-servers.org/
about AfriNIC
http://www.afrinic.net/
http://www.afrinic.net/projects/project_anycast.htm
about TIX
http://www.tix.or.tz/
http://www.tix.or.tz/dns_root/
for more info, please contact us:
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