.INTERNAL is now reserved for private-use applications (icann.org)

Article summary

The ICANN Board has reserved the .INTERNAL top-level domain for private-use applications, ensuring it will not be delegated in the DNS root zone. This move aims to provide a safe domain for internal networks, preventing potential conflicts with registered domains. The reservation is intended for use in closed corporate or home networks, where a private domain naming scheme is needed. The .INTERNAL domain will not resolve in the global DNS, allowing network operators to configure it as they see fit.

Main themes

• Domain Name Reservation
• Private-Use Applications
• DNS Root Zone
• Internal Networks
• Domain Name Conflicts

What commenters say

• The reservation of .INTERNAL provides a safe and conflict-free domain for internal networks, preventing potential data leaks and security issues.
• Using .local for internal networks can cause problems with mDNS and Bonjour, and it's recommended to use .internal instead.
• Some argue that .local should be officially reserved by ICANN to prevent future conflicts, while others believe it's too late to change its usage.
• The reservation of .INTERNAL is seen as a solution to the problem of developers and companies using unregistered domains, which can lead to conflicts when those domains are registered by others.
• Using a real domain name with a subdomain for internal networks can provide benefits such as running real Let's Encrypt certificates and avoiding self-signed certificate warnings.
• The use of .INTERNAL is compared to using reserved IP address ranges, such as 192.168.0.0/16, to avoid conflicts and ensure safe internal networking.
• Some commenters suggest using alternative solutions, such as ACME DNS, to automate certificate management for internal networks.
• The reservation of .INTERNAL is seen as a necessary step to prevent future mistakes and conflicts, similar to the issues that arose when Google registered the .dev TLD.