General Requirements and Guidelines for Expressions of Interest for Hosting a Mirror Instance of k.root-servers.net

Introduction

The RIPE NCC operates k.root-servers.net, one of the servers used as a name server for the DNS root zone. In order to further improve the distribution of the service in various Internet regions and its resilience against DDoS attacks the RIPE NCC is deploying mirror instances of the server worldwide as described in the ripe document "Distributing K-Root Service by Anycast Routing of 193.0.14.129" (RIPE 268).

The first phase of this project included moving the cold standby instance of the server to service using anycast routing. This phase was completed in July 2003 and k.root-servers.net is currently deployed in two locations (LINX, London and AMS-IX, Amsterdam).

The next phase will be mostly focused on the deployment of nodes with limited reachability in the RIPE NCC service region. The main motivation for this phase is:

• Improving access to k.root-servers.net for a significant ISP community.
• Isolating impact of an "external" DDoS attack.
• Localising impact of a "local" DDoS attack.

This document sets the direction and further details the requirements for hosting an instance of the k.root-servers.net server so that interested organisations may understand the general intentions and requirements of this phase of the project. Organisations wishing to express their interest in supporting this important activity may do so by following the guidelines below.

Physical Sites

Suitable sites for the location of mirror instances of the k.root-servers.net server will in most cases include an Internet exchange (IX) that offers a very high standard of infrastructure and Internet connectivity. The members of the IX should represent a significant ISP community in the region.

In terms of physical infrastructure and services, a hosting site must satisfy the general requirements for root server locations, which are described in section 3.1 of RFC2870.

Server Hardware

Though global reachability is not required for the instance of the k.root-servers.net server, it is critical that access to the server is provided in an open and non-discriminative manner to all members of the IX. However, it is important that global transit is co-ordinated with the RIPE NCC.

Requirements for reachability are different for the management network of k.root-servers.net that is used by the RIPE NCC to perform system administration. It is required that connectivity of the management network is global and reliable.

Expressions of Interest

The RIPE NCC invites expressions of interest from organisations such as Internet Exchanges or other organisations that represent a significant ISP community in the region.

Expressions of Interest should include details of the support which is being offered, such as hosting and connectivity.

Please provide as much detail as possible, including physical infrastructure details, upstream and peer network connectivity details, and bandwidth availability. Please refer specifically to the provisions of RFC2870 in your response.

Please send expressions of interest to: <k-anycast@ripe.net>

If any further information is required, please also use this address.