Comprehensive Analysis of DNS Reliability and Web Reachability in the German.de Domain Inventory
Ramiro SÃƒÂ¡mano Robles
International Journal of Web Applications, Vol. 18, No. 3, 2026.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.6025/ijwa/2026/18/3/125-144
Link: https://www.dline.info/ijwa/fulltext/v18n3/ijwav18n3_1.pdf
Abstract:
The Domain Name System (DNS) is a critical foundation of internet functionality, yet its reliability remains
vulnerable to physical, logical, and operational failures. While substantial research exists on DNS security
and topology, large scale assessments of country code top level domains (ccTLDs) remain limited. This study
presents a comprehensive empirical analysis of DNS reliability and web reachability within the German .de
domain ecosystem. Utilizing a stratified 10% random sample (N = 636,853) from a verified inventory of 6.38
million. de domains (derived from Common Crawl data spanning 2019-2026), we evaluated sequential DNS
resolution and HTTP/HTTPS accessibility. Descriptive and inferential statistical methods, along with a novel
DNS Reliability Index (DRI), were used to quantify operational health. Results indicate a DNS resolution rate
of 66.24% (95% CI [66.12%, 66.37%]), but a significant attrition to full web reachability, with only 35.42%
of the total sample (or ~42.2% of actively checked domains) returning successful HTTP 200 responses. DNS
failures (ERR_DNS, 28.36%) and network timeouts (ERR_TIMEOUT, 11.94%) emerged as the primary barriers
to accessibility. The DRI remained stable (~66.2%) across domain name lengths, though temporal anomalies
highlighted batch specific probing effects. These findings Shown that domain registration does not guarantee
service availability, highlighting the need for continuous monitoring and improved registration maintenance
to enhance the resilience of the web ecosystem.