Registries and Registrars Dr Bruce Tonkin Chief Technology Officer Melbourne IT Ltd 3 March 03

Outline Overview of domain name structure related to.com.au Approaches for trialling Enum

Melbourne IT Provided.com.au services since 1996 Appointed as one of first 5 registrars for.com in 1999 Currently provide domain name registration services for most of the major domain name registries in the world

.com.au Find information about an Australian business on the Internet In simple terms translates a business name to an Internet location Opt-in approach – although could have created an entry for all companies listed in ASIC or business names in state based business name registries

.com.au DNS structure.au nameserver has an entry that tells you where to find the.com.au nameserver (which itself is a domain name that needs to be resolved).com.au nameserver has an entry for melbourneit.com.au that tells you the identity of the computer that can tell you more (ns1.melbourneit.com.au) ns1.melbourneit.com.au nameserver contains the actual details of melbourneit.com.au (ie it can be found at IP address )

Registry operator There is a registry operator for.com.au It maintains a database of the entries in.com.au and also details about the registrar responsible for the entry and the contact details for the registrant Provides a DNS nameserver service for.com.au (used by computers) Provides a WHOIS directory to identify the registrant for each entry in the database (used by humans) Provide a high reliability service (99.9 – 99.99%)

Registrar Creates, deletes, modifies entries in the registry Carries out authentication of registrants Carries out policy checks Domains are fully portable between registrars – via transfer procedures

Reseller/Service Providers Some registrants interact directly with a registrar Many other registrants use a service provider (e.g web hosting, services) to act as their agent The service provider often manages the nameserver (e.g ns1.telstra.net) that contains the information about the domain name to finally reach the intended destination Most common services are web sites and

Possible ENUM approaches Start with a single registry provider at 1.6.e164.arpa Appoint registrars that interact with registry provider Allow registrants to directly create an enum entry (may need a separate allocation of E164 number range) – provides independence from service providers Allow service providers to operate a nameserver for the E164 numbers under their management, and allow their customers to opt-in to that service provider

Trials Direct registrants can have complete control over the URIs associated with a E164 number Service providers may implement a limited set of URI types on the nameservers that they manage (e.g to support IP telephony only)

DNS principles Provide basic DNS service and allow market to evolve Opt-in Allow users direct control if desired Use DNS hierarchy to create separate policy areas (e.g.com.au compared to.id.au, or.com)

Conclusion There are working models for domain names that can be used as a starting point for ENUM Allow a range of trials that may involve different policy environments Let users opt-in (although service providers may choose to automatically add certain number ranges for IP telephony purposes only)