B-Root History

B Root (b.root-servers.net and its predecessors) have been operational since 1987. USC/ISI has operated Internet root nameservers since the inception of the root DNS system, with the b.root-server service in the Los Angeles area.

Some operational milestones in B-History:

• Anycast at multiple sites since May 2017

• RSSAC-002 (2015-12-31) and RSSAC-002v3 (2016-06-17) with our open-source code (2016-05-29)

• IPv6 since 2004

• B-Root has operated at several IPv4 (2017) and IPv6 (2017) and IPv4 (2004) addresses

As part of USC, B-Root often explores new topics early in their life:

• B-Root began experiment support for DNS-over-TLS in 2023.

• USC/ISI operated the first IPv6- and DNSSEC-enabled testbed for root servers, the rs.net testbed, from 1998 to 2003.

For additional history about this and other root servers, refer to RSSAC023v2.