DNS Definition

The DNS definition stands for Domain Name System. The DNS is the translation system that converts the human-readable textual domain names into numerical IP addresses that computers can use to communicate with each other. The primary task of DNS is to resolve domain names to IP addresses.

Every computer or a device in a computer network is assigned an IP address. The computers communicate with each other using these IP addresses. The IP address is a unique series of numbers that is difficult for people to remember. Therefore the DNS was designed to bridge the communication gap between the computers and the humans.

Every IP address has its corresponding human-readable name. When you type in a web address in your web browser, that request goes through the DNS. It receives the domain name and looks up its database to find out the corresponding IP address. Once the domain name is resolved to its corresponding IP address, your computer can communicate with the webserver and retrieve the web page you requested.

The DNS is placed in hierarchical order, The root server is the top of the root of the hierarchy. There are 13 sets of root serves strategically placed around the world. These root servers are operated by 12 different organizations. The top-level domain (TLD) servers are at the next level. TLD stores the address information of the top-level domains such as .com, .net, .org, etc. The authoritative name servers are at the next or the final level which contains all the information about domain names and the IP addresses.