Supervision : Sébastien TIXEUIL

Assessing the environmental footprint of DNS (Domain Name System)

The environmental footprint of digital technologies and communication networks is a growing concern. The 2019 report by the Shift Project estimates that the digital sector accounts for 3 to 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions and that its carbon footprint could potentially increase by 50% by 2030 if significant measures to improve its energy efficiency and sustainability are not implemented. These figures provide an overview of the problem, but a more detailed analysis is necessary to assess the impact of individual components. In this thesis, we will focus on the network, particularly on the environmental footprint of the Domain Name System (DNS), a crucial element that remains understudied in terms of environmental impact. The DNS, an essential system in the architecture of the Internet, allows domain names to be mapped to IP addresses. Historically, its impact on the global carbon footprint has been considered minimal due to its stateless protocol, which results in a low communication overhead. However, with the introduction of TLS (Transport Layer Security) handshake and encryption mechanisms, many studies have shown that these security measures can significantly increase energy consumption in network services. The main objective of this thesis is to develop tools to evaluate, model, and predict the energy consumption directly linked to the use of the DNS protocol.