Historical Resolution Tracking Feature » Getting Additional Input on New KSK Roll Plan

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Getting Additional Input on New KSK Roll Plan


Resolution of the ICANN Board
Meeting Date: 
Sun, 13 May 2018
Resolution Number: 
2018.05.13.09
Resolution Text: 

Whereas, ICANN organization has updated the full plan documents in response to suggestions from the community and created "Updated Plan for Continuing the Root KSK Rollover" (published at ) ;

Whereas, the Board often requests advice from the Root Server System Advisory Committee (RSSAC) on matters that relate to the stability of the root zone, and often requests advice from the Security and Stability Advisory Committee (SSAC) on matters that relate to the security and stability of the Domain Name System (DNS) and often requests advice from the Root Zone Evolution Review Committee (RZERC) on architectural changes to the content of the DNS root zone

Resolved (2018.05.13.09), that the Board requests RSSAC, SSAC and RZERC to provide the Board advices on "Updated Plan for Continuing the Root KSK Rollover" and associated plan documents, and report back to the Board by 10 August 2018 if possible.

Rationale for Resolution: 

The plan to roll the DNS root KSK was temporarily paused on 27 September 2017 due to unexpected input that caused the community to question how ready validating resolvers were for the roll that was coming just a few weeks later. For months after that, ICANN org analyzed the data that became available that caused the temporary pause and found that continuing the process of the root KSK roll would be warranted.

Based on that research, ICANN org asked the technical community to recommend a plan of action. The suggestion from that community was that ICANN should proceed with the KSK roll procedure in an orderly fashion.

With that input, ICANN org created a summary plan, titled "Plan for Continuing the Root KSK Rollover", to roll the root KSK on 11 October 2018. ICANN org published the summary plan for community review on 1 February 2018 (see ). The time allowed for comments was extended beyond the normal 45 days to allow presentations about the plan at ICANN 61 in San Juan and IETF 101 in London and to request more community input at those fora.

The community response received by 2 April 2018 was strongly in favor of the published plan (with some suggestions of additional outreach that ICANN org could do before October 2018). Based on the community response, ICANN org created the "Updated Plan for Continuing the Root KSK Rollover" and also revised the original KSK roll plan documents to show which steps had already been taken, and which steps still needed to be taken using the revised dates. These plan document are available at .

The community input on the proposed plan came from a variety of Advisory Committees, Stakeholder Groups, organizations, and individuals, but comments were not received from either RSSAC or SSAC. RSSAC is a respected advisor on stability of the root zone, and SSAC is a respected advisor on matters that relate to the security and stability of the DNS. The Board is taking action at this time to request input from the RSSAC and the SSAC about the Updated Plan for Continuing the Root KSK Rollover so that this input may be taken into account as part of the Board's deliberations on whether or not to approve the Updated Plan.

The request for input from the RSSAC and SSAC is not anticipated to have any fiscal impact on the ICANN organization beyond that which has already been accounted for in the budgeted resources necessary for ongoing support of the RSSAC and SSAC.

This decision is in the public interest and within ICANN's mission, as it supports ICANN org's work to ensure the stable and secure operation of the Internet's unique identifier systems.

This is an Organizational Administrative Function that does not require public comment.