Skip to main content
Resources

Root Server System Advisory Committee

The Root Server System Advisory Committee (RSSAC) is responsible for advising the ICANN community and Board on matters relating to the operation, administration, security, and integrity of the Internet's Root Server System, as outlined in its charter from the ICANN Bylaws.

The RSSAC consists of representatives of the organizations responsible for operating the world's 13 root name servers as voting members. On 18 July 2013, the Board approved the initial membership and leadership of the RSSAC, with new representatives also appointed on 26 June 2014.

Root Root Server Operator Representative Term Expires Alternate
A/J Verisign Brad Verd (Co-Chair) 31 December 2018 Matt Weinberg
B University of Southern California Wes Hardaker 31 December 2017 Suzanne Woolf
C Cogent Paul Vixie 31 December 2017 Hank Kilmer
D University of Maryland Tripti Sinha (Co-Chair) 31 December 2016 Gerry Sneeringer
E NASA Kevin Jones 31 December 2016 Ray Gilstrap
F Internet Systems Consortium Brian Reid 31 December 2018 Warren Kumari
G US Department of Defense Jim Cassell 31 December 2016 Kevin Wright
H US Army Research Laboratory Howard Kash 31 December 2016 N/A
I Netnod Lars-Johan Liman 31 December 2018 Johan Ihrén
K RIPE Network Coordination Centre Daniel Karrenberg 31 December 2017 Kaveh Ranjbar
L ICANN John Crain 31 December 2018 Terry Manderson
M WIDE Project Jun Murai 31 December 2017 Hiro Hotta

The RSSAC also consists of representatives of the organizations responsible for the maintenance of the authoritative root zone as non-voting members. Liaisons from external organizations and groups also participate as non-voting members.

IANA Functions Operator Elise Gerich (IANA)
Root Zone Administrator Ashley Heineman (NTIA)
Root Zone Maintainer Duane Wessels (Verisign)
Liaison from the Internet Architecture Board Daniel Migault
Liaison from the SSAC Russ Mundy
Liaison to the ICANN Board of Directors Suzanne Woolf

Meetings

The RSSAC holds periodic teleconferences and meets in person at IETF meetings and ICANN meetings. Minutes from meetings of the previous RSSAC and the current RSSAC (where available) can be viewed here.

Caucus

The Caucus of DNS and root server system experts will be responsible for the essential work of the RSSAC. More information about the Caucus can be viewed here.

Publications

The RSSAC may publish advisories, correspondence, reports, and statements within its mandate of advising the ICANN community and Board as well as documents related to its own administration and work. More information about RSSAC Publications can be viewed here.

A note about tracking cookies:

This site is using "tracking cookies" on your computer to deliver the best experience possible. Read more to see how they are being used.

This notice is intended to appear only the first time you visit the site on any computer.Dismiss

Domain Name System
Internationalized Domain Name ,IDN,"IDNs are domain names that include characters used in the local representation of languages that are not written with the twenty-six letters of the basic Latin alphabet ""a-z"". An IDN can contain Latin letters with diacritical marks, as required by many European languages, or may consist of characters from non-Latin scripts such as Arabic or Chinese. Many languages also use other types of digits than the European ""0-9"". The basic Latin alphabet together with the European-Arabic digits are, for the purpose of domain names, termed ""ASCII characters"" (ASCII = American Standard Code for Information Interchange). These are also included in the broader range of ""Unicode characters"" that provides the basis for IDNs. The ""hostname rule"" requires that all domain names of the type under consideration here are stored in the DNS using only the ASCII characters listed above, with the one further addition of the hyphen ""-"". The Unicode form of an IDN therefore requires special encoding before it is entered into the DNS. The following terminology is used when distinguishing between these forms: A domain name consists of a series of ""labels"" (separated by ""dots""). The ASCII form of an IDN label is termed an ""A-label"". All operations defined in the DNS protocol use A-labels exclusively. The Unicode form, which a user expects to be displayed, is termed a ""U-label"". The difference may be illustrated with the Hindi word for ""test"" — परीका — appearing here as a U-label would (in the Devanagari script). A special form of ""ASCII compatible encoding"" (abbreviated ACE) is applied to this to produce the corresponding A-label: xn--11b5bs1di. A domain name that only includes ASCII letters, digits, and hyphens is termed an ""LDH label"". Although the definitions of A-labels and LDH-labels overlap, a name consisting exclusively of LDH labels, such as""icann.org"" is not an IDN."