November 5, 2002, the IP address for J.root-servers.net will change in the authoritative NS set for "dot".
Why is this change being made?
as a simple step in improving the robustness of the overall system. back in the day, NSI agreed to act as guardian for a couple of the (then) new roots. As a temporary expedient, (J) was placed in the same broadcast domain as another root. moving it to a different broadcast domain will allow better traffic "splay" into the logical topology of the 'net.
... (old record is still visable)
yes. and it may still be there for a while. but using the new address (and checking all those new systems that are already in the distribution channel to ensure they pick up hte new address) will avoid the odd glitch when the old address is eventually retired... in a couple years. :) --bill