Ever been confused on the ways DNS works? Do you know what DNS is? Don’t be ashamed if you don’t because you are one of many not know all the facts behind it. Our good friend Google tells us DNS is, “(Domain Name Server) – Used to map names to IP addresses and vice versa. Domain Name Servers maintain central lists of domain name/IP addresses and map the domain names in your Internet requests to other servers on the Internet until the specified web site is found.”
What does that mean? It is pretty bad when you need a definition of the definition. The friendly folks over at Splodgy Web Design have put together one heck of a tutorial on this very subject.
DNS stands for Domain Name System. It is the process that connects the domain name you typed into your browser, to the server that serves or hosts the information for that domain.
People often get very confused when it comes to understanding DNS and nameservers. They get all mixed up with domain names, web servers, resolvers and IP addresses. Even people who are very computer literate can get in a complete fuddle over DNS. But it’s not really that difficult really. It’s just that whenever someone starts to explain it to you, they end up using all manor of buzz words. Things like bind and resolver. In some ways, DNS is like the offside rule in football (soccer). Everyone can play the game but just try an get them to explain the offside rule and things get very complicated. This tutorial is intended to help you understand how DNS works.
If that didn’t get your questions answered then try looking over at Webopedia:
(1) Short for Domain Name System (or Service or Server), an Internet service that translates domain names into IP addresses. Because domain names are alphabetic, they’re easier to remember. The Internet however, is really based on IP addresses. Every time you use a domain name, therefore, a DNS service must translate the name into the corresponding IP address. For example, the domain name www.example.com might translate to 198.105.232.4.
The DNS system is, in fact, its own network. If one DNS server doesn’t know how to translate a particular domain name, it asks another one, and so on, until the correct IP address is returned.
No mater which source you turn to, they are both well written, full of information, and right. There is no such thing as a stupid question, and with the Internet at your fingertips you have a plethora of answers to choose from!
