DomainNameSystem(DNS).Itactsasadirectory,puterscanunderstand.WithoutDNS,ess.
InorderforDNStowork,workofserversisneeded,knownasDomainNameServersorDNSserversforshort.TheseserversholddatabasesofdomainnamesandtheircorrespondingIPaddresses,putersseekingtoconnecttoawebsite.Whenausertypesadomainnameintotheirbrowser,putersendsarequesttoaDNSservertoresolvethenametoitsIPaddress.
DNSserversareidentifiedbyauniqueIPaddress,municate,theyarealsoassigneddomainnames,knownashostnames.Thesehostnamesarethenassociatedwithadomainnamehierarchy,whichcategorizesthembasedontheirlocationandfunctionwithintheDNSsystem.
ThereareafewimportanttermstounderstandwhentalkingaboutDNSservers.ThefirstisauthoritativeDNSserver,whichisresponsibleforprovidingthecorrectIPaddressforaspecificdomainname.NextisrecursiveDNSserver,whichisresponsibleforfindingandretrievingtheIPaddressforadomainnamebyqueryingotherDNSserversuntilithasfoundthecorrectone.
TherearealsodifferenttypesofDNSservers,includingprimaryandsecondaryDNSservers.TheprimaryDNSserverisresponsibleformaintainingthedatabaseofdomainnamesandIPaddresses.ThesecondaryDNSserversarecopiesoftheprimaryserver,usedforredundancyandbackupincasetheprimaryserverfails.
InadditiontoDNSservers,therearealsoDNSresolvers,municatewithDNSserversonbehalfofclientdevices.ThishelpstoreducetheworkloadofDNSserversbyallowingqueriestobecachedandreusedforfuturerequests.
Overall,infrastructure,municationbetweendevicesacrosstheworld.Theirimportancecannotbeoverstated,asawhole.