DNS is the backbone of the WorldWideWeb and a tool for the lazy. It is used to replace IPs (the "real" locations of servers such as 127.0.0.1 and 68.346.13.1) with domain names (.com, .net or .org.) Here's the basis of it:
- Every server is part of a hierarchy (in other words, a list) on the Internet. At the top are the "root" servers that know every domain name in the WorldWideWeb. When a new domain name is created, it goes on the bottom of the list and DNS servers add it to their list, all the way up to the top.
- When you try to get on the Internet (say, to access google.com) you (your browser, technically) ask your ISP (Internet Service Provider) to find any domains lower on the list (usually ones that the ISP hosts.) If it doesn't find anything, it asks the next-up server on the hierarchy if it can find anything. This continues until a server finds what you're looking for (index.htm or index.html on google.com.) This gets ferried back to you through each server back to your ISP, which sends it back to you.
- It seems very simple, but there are many variables in DNS that you need to account for before you make a successful domain.
- Everything about DNS seems like a wiki, where all the users (servers) help each other out by editing each other's pages (searching for different domain names.)
If I got something wrong here, could someone be so kind as to fix it up? I'm not exactly sure it's correct.
Understanding Dns