Talk:.root

The aim is obvious
The article says that "no explanation of the purpose of .root has been given". But the reason for adding it is very simple: to check that the root zone file was properly loaded. It allows a monitor to query the nameservers and be sure that all the root zone file was loaded (the traditional zone file format does not detect a truncated file because there is no end marker).

S. Bortzmeyer

This was maybe done earlier but today you can verify the zone file via signed hash sums. --Calestyo 21:58, 23 December 2006 (UTC)

Just because the meaning is obvious doesn't mean that Verisign has given an explanation. --ajdlinux 01:42, 25 December 2006 (UTC)

The meaning or purpose of plenus
The word plenus is Latin for (roughly) "enough". I imagine that should suffice, in context, to explain the use of plenus as a return to a dig / nslookup query for the notional "end of file" marker. Paul.w.bennett 22:55, 20 December 2006 (UTC)

Misc
It doesn't seem to exist any more:

> dig vrsn-end-of-zone-marker-dummy-record.root. any @a.root-servers.net


 * <<>> DiG 9.3.2 <<>> vrsn-end-of-zone-marker-dummy-record.root. any @a.root-servers.net
 * (1 server found)
 * global options: printcmd
 * Got answer:
 * ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NXDOMAIN, id: 27876
 * flags: qr aa rd; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 0, AUTHORITY: 1, ADDITIONAL: 0


 * QUESTION SECTION:
 * vrsn-end-of-zone-marker-dummy-record.root. IN ANY

.                      86400   IN      SOA     A.ROOT-SERVERS.NET. NSTLD.VERISIGN-GRS.COM. 2006042100 1800 900 604800 86400
 * AUTHORITY SECTION:


 * Query time: 107 msec
 * SERVER: 198.41.0.4#53(198.41.0.4)
 * WHEN: Fri Apr 21 16:56:06 2006
 * MSG SIZE rcvd: 134


 * I've updated this - according to the InterNIC zone, vrsn-end-of-zone-marker-dummy-record.root has been replaced with just vrsn-end-of-zone-marker-dummy-record, i.e. without the .root. I believe this is the first time that there has been a universally resolvable domain name *without* a TLD. --ajdlinux 23:07, 25 April 2006 (UTC)
 * It seems to be back again: http://www.dnsstuff.com/tools/lookup.ch?name=vrsn-end-of-zone-marker-dummy-record.root&type=TXT and ftp://ftp.internic.net/domain/root.zone.gz Matthewr2 1 23:58, 20 May 2006 (UTC)

I typed "dig vrsn-end-of-zone-marker-dummy-record in any" in my browser and it redirected me to to this article. It also typed "vrsn-end-of-zone-marker-dummy-record" and it redirected me to http://www.circleid.com/posts/where_did_the_root_top_level_domain_come_from/ does anyone know any information about this.

Then when you go to dig vrsn-end-of-zone-marker-dummy-record.root. any @a.root-servers.net it redirects you to http://www.cavebear.com/cbblog-archives/000087.html which is some blog.

How did these websites get these redirects???? Aceofspades 13:39, 16 May 2006 (UTC)


 * When you type those strings into your browser, you're searching the web (usually by using Google but it varies) for them and it's returning the top result for each one. You need to type the commands into a UNIX-based machine at the shell prompt, to execute the "dig" program. edd 09:46, 17 May 2006 (UTC)


 * In my browser (Mozilla SeaMonkey), I get a Google results page with all of the above sites listed. *Dan T.* 11:55, 17 May 2006 (UTC)

What is a unix based browser????? And what is mozilla sea money. Why dont you use firefox. Aceofspades 14:08, 17 May 2006 (UTC)


 * I'll use whatever browser I feel like using. If you want to know more, you might try looking at the entry for SeaMonkey.  As for UNIX, it's an operating system (or a family of operating sytems, actually); you might want to look at its entry too; Linux as well for a popular, similar, system.  The command line that was discussed is not a "browser", but an interface to the operating system. *Dan T.* 11:58, 18 May 2006 (UTC)

The article does *not* say Google search dig vrsn-end-of-zone-marker-etc..., it says to actually RUN that command on a Unix or Linux system. dig is a PROGRAM! --ajdlinux 23:26, 18 May 2006 (UTC)

.root is back!?!?
It's back again! Updated accordingly. --ajdlinux 10:27, 28 May 2006 (UTC)

Added "europe" !

 * Truncated, retrying in TCP mode.


 * <<>> DiG 9.3.2 <<>> ORSN-END-OF-ZONE-MARKER-DUMMY-RECORD.ROOT in any
 * global options: printcmd
 * Got answer:
 * ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 14579
 * flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 1, AUTHORITY: 12, ADDITIONAL: 15


 * QUESTION SECTION:
 * ORSN-END-OF-ZONE-MARKER-DUMMY-RECORD.ROOT. IN ANY

ORSN-END-OF-ZONE-MARKER-DUMMY-RECORD.ROOT. 172800 IN TXT "europe"
 * ANSWER SECTION:

.                      355212  IN      NS      H.ORSN-SERVERS.NET. .                      355212  IN      NS      J.ORSN-SERVERS.NET. .                      355212  IN      NS      K.ORSN-SERVERS.NET. .                      355212  IN      NS      L.ORSN-SERVERS.NET. .                      355212  IN      NS      M.ORSN-SERVERS.NET. .                      355212  IN      NS      A.ORSN-SERVERS.NET. .                      355212  IN      NS      B.ORSN-SERVERS.NET. .                      355212  IN      NS      C.ORSN-SERVERS.NET. .                      355212  IN      NS      D.ORSN-SERVERS.NET. .                      355212  IN      NS      E.ORSN-SERVERS.NET. .                      355212  IN      NS      F.ORSN-SERVERS.NET. .                      355212  IN      NS      G.ORSN-SERVERS.NET.
 * AUTHORITY SECTION:

H.ORSN-SERVERS.NET. 355212 IN      A       213.144.148.130 J.ORSN-SERVERS.NET. 355212 IN      A       193.93.167.222 K.ORSN-SERVERS.NET. 355212 IN      AAAA    2001:4b88:9000:: K.ORSN-SERVERS.NET. 355212 IN      A       217.173.157.225 L.ORSN-SERVERS.NET. 355212 IN      A       192.83.249.100 M.ORSN-SERVERS.NET. 355212 IN      A       213.145.82.34 A.ORSN-SERVERS.NET. 355212 IN      AAAA    2001:8d0:0:3::100 A.ORSN-SERVERS.NET. 355212 IN      A       217.146.128.77 B.ORSN-SERVERS.NET. 355212 IN      A       62.116.33.87 C.ORSN-SERVERS.NET. 355212 IN      A       212.7.160.13 D.ORSN-SERVERS.NET. 355212 IN      AAAA    2001:8a8:21:2::66 D.ORSN-SERVERS.NET. 355212 IN      A       195.226.7.66 E.ORSN-SERVERS.NET. 355212 IN      A       213.161.0.90 F.ORSN-SERVERS.NET. 355212 IN      A       193.138.173.218 G.ORSN-SERVERS.NET. 355212 IN      A       82.102.0.9
 * ADDITIONAL SECTION:


 * Query time: 90 msec
 * SERVER: 217.146.139.5#53(217.146.139.5)
 * WHEN: Tue Jun 20 11:06:12 2006
 * MSG SIZE rcvd: 550

output of a dig query
The article says: The existence of the record was observed with the domain information groper (dig) utility by querying for a TXT record for the domain name: dig vrsn-end-of-zone-marker-dummy-record.root This entry returned the word "plenus", which is Latin for full or complete. I tried this query on my computer, in GNOME terminal: $ dig vrsn-end-of-zone-marker-dummy-record.root txt ; <<>> DiG 9.7.1-P2 <<>> vrsn-end-of-zone-marker-dummy-record.root txt ;; global options: +cmd ;; Got answer: ;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NXDOMAIN, id: 55885 ;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 0, AUTHORITY: 1, ADDITIONAL: 0 ;; QUESTION SECTION: ;vrsn-end-of-zone-marker-dummy-record.root. IN TXT ;; AUTHORITY SECTION: .			957	IN	SOA	a.root-servers.net. nstld.verisign-grs.com. 2012121501 1800 900 604800 86400 ;; Query time: 1 msec ;; SERVER: 93.100.1.3#53(93.100.1.3) ;; WHEN: Sun Dec 16 05:44:55 2012 ;; MSG SIZE rcvd: 134 No word "plenus" is found in the output. Gamliel Fishkin (talk) 02:33, 16 December 2012 (UTC)