Overview
Consistent with its mission supporting the security and stability of the Internet's system of unique identifiers, including the domain name system (DNS), this review includes an examination of the New gTLD Program's impact on the root of the DNS. The review aims to identify the Program's impact in order to determine if any additional steps are necessary as a prerequisite to adding more TLDs to the root zone, as well as any steps that should be undertaken by the community going forward to assess the state of the root system on an ongoing basis.
An RFP seeking a vendor to conduct this review was published in June 2015. After assessing the proposals of several candidate organizations, The Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO), working in a consortium with SIDN and NLnet Labs, was selected to conduct the study in October 2015. The study consortium also updated progress on the project, the Continuous Data-driven Analysis of Root Stability (CDAR), on their own website, available here. The draft study (download here) was published in October 2016. Read the announcement here and comment on the study here. The final report (download here) was published in March 2017.
Goals
- Establish relevant metrics for reviewing of the impact of the New gTLD Program on the security and stability of the root system
- Assess the impact of the addition of the new gTLDs in order to determine what steps, if any, should be undertaken as a prerequisite to adding more TLDs to the root system
- Identify any steps that should be undertaken by the community going forward to assess the state of the root system on an ongoing basis
Review Areas
This review examines the effects of the New gTLD Program on the operations of the root system, including consideration of the rate of change, coordination, and monitoring measures for the 2012 round of gTLD delegations, with the objective of identifying whether any new considerations should be applied to support root stability as the Program moves forward.
Review Timelines
Representatives from ICANN and TNO are currently working to establish a project timeline. Public comment on the proposed study plan opened on 2 December 2015 and closed on 3 February 2016. A summary of public comments was published 17 February 2016. More details can be found on the public comment page. This public comment process is meant to be a first step in engaging the wider DNS community on the project. TNO and ICANN considered the public comment feedback and determined no adjustments to the study plans were necessary at this time, though the suggestions received will be taken into account during execution of the study.
An interim report, based on data and analysis conducted to date, is expected in thewas published in October third quarter of 2016. The final report was published in March 2017.
Additional resources
CDAR public session at ICANN 55 (8 March 2016)
CDAR presentation at 24th DNS-OARC meeting (31 March 2016)
CDAR presentation at April 2016 IEPG meeting (3 April 2016)
CDAR public session at ICANN 57 (8 November 2016)
Last updated 15 March 2017.