The Domain Name System (DNS) is a hierarchical and distributed system designed to translate human-readable domain names into machine-readable IP addresses. It facilitates communication between computers on the Internet by managing the mapping of easily memorizable domain names to the numerical IP addresses that represent the actual communication targets.
Key functions of DNS include:
-
Name Resolution: The primary purpose of DNS is to resolve domain names to IP addresses. For example, when you access a website like "www.example.com," your computer uses DNS to find the corresponding IP address of that website.
-
Hierarchical Structure: DNS has a hierarchical structure evident in domain names such as "example.com." The hierarchy extends from right to left, with the right side being the Top-Level Domain (TLD), like ".com" or ".org," and the left side indicating specific subdomains (e.g., "example").
-
Distributed Database: DNS is decentralized and operates with a distributed database structure. There are multiple DNS servers distributed worldwide that collaborate to manage the mapping of domain names to IP addresses.
-
DNS Servers: Various types of DNS servers exist, including Authoritative DNS Servers, which provide authorized information for specific domains, and Recursive DNS Servers, which handle queries from clients and, if necessary, access Authoritative DNS Servers to obtain the required information.
DNS plays a crucial role on the Internet by providing a user-friendly way to access resources without users needing to know the underlying numerical IP addresses.
