Growing Interest in Deploying Root-Server Copies in the LAC Region

30/06/2021

This year,  LACNIC’S +Raices Program received applications from 23 organizations across the region interested in hosting local copies of DNS root servers.

In the coming months, the proposals we received will be assessed by LACNIC and the root-server operators who are collaborating in the +RAICES Program. Selected proposals are expected to be announced in mid-August.

Guillermo Cicileo, Head of Internet Infrastructure Research and Development at LACNIC, explained that the selection will involve the possibility of providing funding for the servers and potential agreements with the beneficiaries so they can contribute in infrastructure.

The main goal of the +Raices project is to install anycast root-server copies in the territories that are part of the LACNIC service region. These servers are installed at Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) and Network Access Points (NAPs), strategic locations for a more resilient access to one of the Internet’s most critical resources, the DNS.

Among other aspects, the locations where these copies will be installed will be selected considering each organization’s national and international connectivity, the ASNs with which they are interconnected, the number of end users who would benefit, their financing capacity, and the number of existing root-server instances in each country.

According to a recent study commissioned by LACNIC and conducted by Hugo Salgado of NIC Chile, the  installation of anycast copies of the 13 original root servers across the region has drastically reduced latency and enhanced Internet user experience in Latin America and the Caribbean.

LACNIC’s +Raices Program has promoted the deployment of more than de 30 root-server copies in the LAC region, and this has had a direct impact on critical Internet infrastructure.