Since the birth of the Internet, a "three-tier architecture" has been established, namely the physical facility layer, the basic resource layer, and the application layer. Among them, the physical facility layer is the bottom layer supported by computing, storage, and networking, which is like an information superhighway; the application layer is various applications based on the Internet such as finance, government affairs, shopping, entertainment, search, and social networking, just like cars running on the highway. Among them, the basic resource layer lacks security, and "cars running on the highway" will also face certain risks.
At present, the global Internet core resources, including top-level domains and Internet address spaces, are in a new round of deployment and allocation.
In 2012, the global application for new general top-level domains was opened for the first time. More than 1,000 applications were approved in the United States, while only 46 were approved in China, accounting for 3%. After a lapse of 10 years, the new general top-level domain resources will be open to the world again in 2022, which is a rare opportunity for China’s Internet industry.
"It is crucial to firmly grasp the resources of cyberspace and build a safer, more efficient and smarter Chinese network foundation." Mao Wei, director of the National and Local Joint Engineering Research Center (ZDNS) of the Internet Domain Name System, said in an interview with a Science and Technology Daily reporter that the reconstruction of the domain name system is related to our country’s future in the field of global Internet basic technology. Driven by many factors such as new infrastructure, network application, technological change, and redistribution of Internet core resources, the upgrade of the next-generation domain name system is very necessary and urgent.
The Internet Domain Name System needs to be held accountable
Looking back at the traditional Internet technology industry structure, a "three-tier architecture" has been established since the birth of the Internet, namely the physical facility layer, the basic resource layer, and the application layer. Among them, the physical facility layer is the bottom layer supported by computing, storage, and network, which is like an information superhighway; the application layer is various applications based on the Internet such as finance, government affairs, shopping, entertainment, search, and social networking, just like a car running on a highway.
"Chinese’cars’ also face certain risks when driving on Chinese’roads’. Because there is a layer of basic resources between the physical facility layer and the application layer." Xing Zhijie, general manager of ZDNS, explained that the addressing and resolution system composed of the domain name system and the Internet Protocol Address is like a navigation system. If the navigation fails, the car may go in the wrong direction. Since the root server, top-level domain and other key infrastructure are located at this layer, people also call this layer "network root".
However, unlike the booming Internet applications and the physical facilities that are gradually moving towards domestic autonomy, China still faces the risk of being disconnected from the Internet. Take the domain name system as an example, of the 13 root servers in the world, China only has the right to operate the mirror root, not the right to manage it; of the more than 1,500 top-level domains in the world, only 3% have the right to manage it in China; 98% of the DNS domain name resolution equipment that undertakes basic services uses foreign software… This means that "root-breaking", "service-stopping" and "supply-cutting" can happen at any time.
It is for this reason that the domestic emphasis on cyber security is constantly increasing. On June 1, 2017, the "Cyber Security Law" officially clarified the concept of critical information infrastructure for the first time and put forward the principle requirements for the security protection of critical information infrastructure; on August 17, 2021, the "Regulations on the Security Protection of Critical Information Infrastructure" were officially issued. The regulations improved and solidified a series of important systems and mechanisms, promoted the opening of a new pattern of critical information infrastructure protection in our country, and provided guidance for the healthy development of the Internet industry. The upgrading and transformation of domain name security and the domain name system were also written into the "13th Five-Year" National Informatization Plan and the "Action Plan for Promoting the Scale Deployment of the Sixth Edition of the Internet Protocol (IPv6) ".
"In the domain name system of the Internet, we must be responsible for protecting the soil." Mao Wei said that the domain name system is the entrance of internet services and is of great significance to ensure cyber security.
"In addition, from the perspective of technological development trends and user requests, the domain name system technology has also reached a critical point for upgrading." In Xing Zhijie’s view, with the vigorous development of new infrastructure represented by 5G, industrial Internet, artificial intelligence, etc., the upgrade of the physical facility layer will inevitably lead to the upgrade of the basic resource layer; massive connection interactions also make the amount of domain name resolution geometric and explosive growth, and the Internet basic software is facing the need for upgrading; the global top-level domain name and Internet address space (transition from IPv4 to IPv6) are also in a critical period of resource competition and deployment.
Mao Wei pointed out that in the current international environment, we should take advantage of the opportunity of global network technology upgrade to reshape the network foundation and ensure the safe and stable operation and healthy development of the Internet in our country.
The Next Generation Domain Name System Reinterprets DNS
"Everyone understands a domain name as a string of characters, but in fact there are root, top-level domain and so on behind the characters." Xing Zhijie said that the Internet Domain Name Service System is a tree structure composed of root, top-level domain, second-level and lower domains.
Today, the meaning of the domain name system goes beyond simple "addressing resolution" to involve a comprehensive upgrade of Internet governance, network resources, and software systems.
Xing Zhijie said that in combination with the current industry development and the current status of global network governance, ZDNS has proposed the concept of "next-generation domain name system" for the first time, reinterpreting DNS, that is, Domain (domain, representing cyberspace), Name (name, network resources), System (system, including software and hardware technologies, etc.) at three levels. The just-completed B round of financing will be mainly used for the research and development of "next-generation domain name system" technology, as well as for the implementation of scenarios in vertical industries such as government, finance, education, and enterprises.
The "next generation domain name system" is not out of nothing. Mao Wei has in-depth thoughts on this: "To build a community with a shared future in cyberspace, we must adopt a shared governance method, not just for the cyber security of a certain country." Following this line of thinking, Mao Wei found the breakthrough point to realize the community with a shared future in cyberspace – the domain name system. "Domain names and IP are global unified resources. In the cyberspace where new technologies continue to emerge, the rules of governance must be oriented towards the next generation – to achieve common security," he said.
In the first round of the global competition for new top-level domain resources, China has lost its lead. "The next round of applications will start in 2022, and we can’t give it up." Mao Wei lamented that China is a latecomer to global Internet governance. It does not have an advantage in quotas. It should aim at the future quota channel and seize the application opportunities of new top-level domains, IPv6 and other important resources. When the domain name root is expanded and the IP root is formed in the future, China will also have a place in the competition army.
It is gratifying that in the field of network root governance, Chinese power is becoming indispensable. ZDNS led the drafting of a number of IETF international standards related to IP roots; ran the global Internet domain name root (mirror) server to build the largest new top-level domain service platform in Asia; actively carried out root research, participated in the drafting of several Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) root server governance reports, and standardized the naming of root servers, the behavior of root server operators, etc.
It is worth mentioning that the situation that domain name resolution software is highly dependent on imports is also slowly improving. The domain name system basic software "Maple DNS" independently developed by our country has improved the performance by dozens of times compared with similar foreign software. It has been widely used in important fields of national economy and people’s livelihood such as finance, energy, transportation, etc., laying a solid foundation for our country to seize the global Internet basic software market and enhance its voice over international Internet governance.
"At present, China’s Internet is at the forefront of the world in terms of user scale, application diversity, and demand for network complexity and high performance. The challenges encountered by China’s Internet from the demand side are not encountered by many countries. Demand drives research and development, and network problems are solved, so we can lead the world and contribute to the international Internet family." Xing Zhijie said.
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New top-level domains: a globally scarce resource
New generic top-level domains (New gTLDs), also known as new top-level domains, such as ".top" ".ren" ".biz" ".info" and other URL domain suffixes belong to the new generic top-level domain, which is part of the structure of the Internet’s domain name system.
Six general top-level domains, including ".com" and ".net", were established in 1985, all of which were controlled by US institutions. General top-level domains are non-renewable global strategic network resources, and the scarcity of high-quality resources is not limited to China. Open registration applications for new general top-level domains have gradually become a common demand on the global Internet.
On June 20, 2011, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) officially approved the new top-level domain at the meeting held in Singapore. Any company or organization has the right to apply for a new top-level domain to ICANN. In 2012, in just a four-month window, ICANN received nearly 2,000 applications, resulting in the birth of 1,249 new generic top-level domains.
In June this year, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of our country released a series of standards "Technical Requirements for Internet New General Top-level Domain Services", and the eight related standards released at one time show the importance of the new general top-level domain.
With the implementation of the new generic top-level domain, the categories of future domain names can be roughly divided into three categories: generic top-level domain, region, country domain, and enterprise personalized top-level domain.
