... root server to find the resolution. In order to resolve external names, many times, your local name server must contact a root name server. Root name servers maintain a mapping between domain names ... authoritative name servers for those domains. When the local name server, dns.my.com, asks a root name server for the IP address of www.sans.org, it gets back a referral to the name servers for ... dns.my.com .domain: 1+ (35)dns.my.com .domain > h.root-servers.net .domain: 12420 (30) (DF)h.root-servers.net .domain > dns.my.com .domain: 12420- 0/3/3 (153) (DF)dns.my.com .domain > server1 .sans.org .domain: ...