Photo Op: You too can have your picture taken with a.root-servers.net

Wed Nov 14 06:03:14 UTC 2001

I don't whether to laugh or cry.  Its just a computer.

http://www.washtech.com/news/netarch/13672-1.html

If you destroyed the copy of the US Constitution in the National Archives
in Washington DC, would that mean the end of the US Government? If someone
broke into NARA and scribbled a new amendment on the tail of the
parchment, would the US Government be bound to follow what ever he wrote
on the Constitution?  No, of course not.

The Root Zone files aren't unique historical documents, and there is
nothing special about the copy on a.root-servers.net.  If a tornado blew
through Verisign's offices tomorrow, would it mean the end of the
Internet?  No. If someone corrupted Verisign's files, would that mean we
have to follow the bogus records? No, we'd clean them up.  Or more likely,
the other operators would rollback their zone files to the previous known
good copy.

Would it disrupt our operations. Yes.  Would it be irrecoverable? No.
The root files are important business records, and I expect the custodian
to take reasonable precautions appropriate for their value.  Do I expect
to see machine-gun nests outside Verisign's office?  No.
a.root-servers.net is just a piece of hardware.  If it was destroyed,
we've got more.

http://www.sms800.com/
http://www.dtc.org/