How many TLD servers are there?

Why are there only 13 root name servers?

Wouldn't having to change to all of those name servers be a pretty large investment infrastructure?

Most notably, the number of root name servers limits the number of root servers that an ISP can have. A small business might have the ability to own or rent a server.

So the primary concern is a provider wanting to offer additional nameservers while still paying a reasonable price to purchase the root nameservers needed. In general, we see the following distribution: 8.8 - Google Public DNS 10.1 - Verizon dns-lite 172.23.1 - Comcast public nameservers
172.27.31.1 - Microsoft Public DNS
216.139.36.199 - Level 3 Public DNS
217.193.23 - Verizon Public DNS
217.14.202.19 - Verizon Public DNS
223.252.236.9 - Verizon Public DNS
8.4 - AT&T Public DNS 208.67.222 - OTOH (RFC1918)
If you dig for any of them, you will notice the number of answers that are returned.com Server: 207.251.153.35
Address: 207.35#53 Non-authoritative answer: Name: google.com Address: 172.18)

How many root-servers are there in the world?

And how many of them are used by your browser?

It doesn't really matter, because if you're using an old browser like Explorer 8 on Windows XP or a Linux distro like Ubuntu 10.04, your root-servers probably aren't the ones your browser is sending your requests to. Instead, Google uses Cogent Communications, so we've probably got a good grip on what your web requests are being routed to. But if you've got a pretty up-to-date set-up and you'd like to use the root-servers that's closest to you, you can run one of these three tools that will find out for you.

You don't have to run any of these commands on a command line every time you want to view your location-specific root-servers you can create shortcuts or add them to your favorites list so you can quickly run them up whenever you need to. Note that these commands won't display your IP address, they'll just display your country code and time zone so, if you're trying to send someone else an exact address for the root-server at a different time zone, it might not work exactly as you expect it to. However, you can easily adjust your command, change your IP address and time zone, or add them to your favorites list.

Command Line Location Test Tool. If you'd like to quickly find out what root-server is best for your use, visit the Global Root Server List page and start clicking around until you find the one you prefer (or you can copy-paste this one into your browser's search box there are no IP addresses). The command line test tool in the "What root server are you using?" tab will then show you which root server you're currently sending your web requests through.

Webpage Location Test Tool. Use this tool to see what root-server your browser is using by just typing in your browser's URL, with or without a subdomain (say: "www.google.com" or just "google.com").

If you've never typed in that URL before, it won't be shown on the page, but just type it into your web browser's address bar and press enter.

How many servers does ICANN have?

According to the GAO report on the SGC there are currently 18, but how many of those have been implemented?

I'm guessing there are at least 15 SGC servers out there, and probably more. There is one that has been implemented. All the rest are in test. The ICANN staff is waiting for the new board to be confirmed and then decide which ones they want to deploy.

We've got to have over a 100 servers by the end of September. We've already got a good number of servers out there, we just need to verify them all.

ICANN has a very clear mandate. It's very straightforward. It's not up to interpretation. The law is very clear. But because it is not yet up to interpretation, it is open to abuse.

The most recent example of abuse is with the TLD transfer. In a previous thread I mentioned how this was abused, specifically with my site. It is a fact that ICANN took on the contract, it is not my fault. I was never notified that there was a problem and did not know the contract would be abused.

ICANN is a non-profit, so we are protected from a lot of things, but a lot of the things they are doing they can easily be sued for. In the case of ICANN taking on the contract for the TLD Transfer, you could sue them, ICANN would lose, but that doesn't mean you get your site back. The ICANN is not a government agency and as such they are not immune to lawsuits. With the contract, the US law states that you have 90 days to protest, after that period it is deemed valid. With the TLD Transfer, the US law states that they have 30 days to approve, after that period it is deemed valid. That's not all they did, because I asked the US government to review the process and they refused to do so. The reason the TLD Transfer was approved was that the Obama administration was involved. When I asked the Obama administration to review the process they refused.

The process is so flawed it's not even funny. It's an obvious case of fraud and abuse of power.