What is DNS? Understanding the Backbone of the Internet
Aug, 07, 2024 
DNS is the system you use every time you enter the website address in your browser and wait for the browser to translate it into the IP address of the website you want to visit. But what is DNS? It is a rather intricate, but essential aspect of the internet, and learning about it will make your experience on the web more productive.
DNS is the internet’s directory service; it is the equivalent of the telephone directory for the world wide web. It converts the website addresses that we enter in our browsers such as www. example. com to the numerical IP addresses that are used by computers to identify each other on the network.
This system is active and dynamic, and millions of DNS queries are processed within a second around the world. It is an active and an interesting part of the internet that many people do not pay much attention to.
In this article, we will go into more detail about how DNS works, using real-life examples and providing links to the source materials for further reference. Our goal is to simplify the information about this topic and avoid using terms that may be difficult for the reader to understand. Therefore, let us proceed to this quest to discover the fundamentals of the internet’s support structure – the Domain Name System.
What is DNS?
Now let us turn to the question, “What is DNS?” DNS stands for the Domain Name System, which is frequently referred to as the ‘phone directory of the internet. But why is that?
Well, just as you search for a name in the phone book to get a number, your computer uses DNS to translate a domain name such as ‘example. com’ to an IP address. This process is called DNS resolution.
You may be asking yourself now, why does this matter? The answer is in the communication process that computers undertake. Domain names are easy for humans to remember, but computers like numbers better. That is where DNS comes in to play its role as the Internet is a vast network and it is very difficult to remember all the IP addresses of the different websites. It converts the easily understandable domain names to the numeric IP addresses that computers use to identify each other.
But how does DNS work? It is a multistep procedure that takes place on several servers. First, your request goes to a DNS recursor, which is a kind of middleman who has been asked to go find a specific book. If the recursor does not know the IP address it asks the root nameserver which points it towards a more specific server.
After that, the request is forwarded to a top-level domain (TLD) nameserver which further refines the search. Last, the request gets to the authoritative nameserver that contains the particular IP address of the domain name.
Thus, if you enter “example. com” on your web browser, DNS makes sure that your computer will get the right webpage. If DNS was not there then instead of typing www.google.com we have to type 216.234.252.15 which is the IP address of google.
Importance of DNS in the internet infrastructure
When you say, “What is DNS?”, you are going right to the core of the Internet. DNS or Domain Name System is an essential part of the internet service provision. It is like the phone directory of the world wide web, which converts easy-to-remember website addresses into the hard-to-remember numbers called IP addresses. This translation is critical when loading the internet resources.
Consider this: and there are over 1.8 billion websites on the internet today. If DNS was not there, then every time we wanted to go to a particular site, then we would have to type the IP address of that particular site. Well, that is not just inconvenient, but nearly impossible!
DNS is also very important in the delivery of e-mail. When you send an email message, your email server employs DNS to identify the IP address of the recipient’s email server. Imagine if your email never received the address to which it should be delivered; this is where DNS comes in.
Furthermore, DNS is also very important in internet security. DNSSEC is a set of extensions to DNS which adds data integrity and authentication to the DNS system, thus preventing activities such as cache poisoning and DNS spoofing.
How Does DNS Work?
The Domain Name System, or DNS as it is usually abbreviated, can be described as the directory of the internet. But what does this mean and how does DNS work? Let us be more specific.
When you type a URL, for instance, www. example. If you type, for instance, www dot com into your web browser, your computer has no idea where to find that webpage. It has to locate the right IP address, that is a number that is given to every device that connects to the internet. This is where DNS comes into play.
The DNS process starts with your computer sending a request to a DNS server to provide it with the IP address of the domain name entered. This server called DNS recursor can be compared with a librarian who is requested to find a specific book.
The DNS recursor first goes to a DNS root nameserver. This root server can be compared to an index in a book where it directs you to different parts of a book. It is aware of the DNS servers that manage the TLDs (such as .com, .net, .org, and so on).
Then, the DNS recursor proceeds to a TLD (Top Level Domain) nameserver. This server is like a certain shelf of books in a library. It contains the last part of a domain name (in www. example. com, the TLD server is com).
Last but not the least, the DNS recursor ends up in the authoritative nameserver. This server can be thought of as a dictionary on a bookshelf, in which a specific name can be translated into its definition. It supplies the last IP address that is related to the domain name.
Types of DNS Servers
When answering the question “What is DNS?”, it is important to explain the various categories of DNS servers that enable the Internet to function smoothly. All DNS servers fall into one of four categories: Recursive resolver, root nameserver, TLD nameserver, and authoritative nameserver.
Recursive resolvers are the initial point of reference in a DNS query. They interconnect a client and a DNS nameserver, and return information from cache or forward a request to a root nameserver, then to a TLD nameserver, and finally to an authoritative nameserver. Majority of the internet users employ a recursive resolver offered by their Internet Service Provider.
Primary nameservers are familiar to every recursive resolver and are the initial point of contact of a recursive resolver in the process of DNS records search. They point the recursive resolver to a TLD nameserver depending on the extension of the domain. There are 13 root nameservers, however there are multiple of each located all around the globe.
TLD nameservers contain records for all the domain names that have the same TLD, for instance, . com, . domain, or whatever comes after the last dot in a URL. For example, .com TLD nameserver has details of every website that has the ‘. =com’ suffix.
The nameservers that are authoritative for the requested domain name contain the IP address. Once they get a response from the authoritative nameserver, the recursive resolver then responds to the client.
Different types of DNS records: A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, etc.
Now it is time to explore DNS records in more detail. When we search for the answer to the question “What is DNS?”, we are in fact looking at the foundation of the internet. DNS or Domain Name System is a system that provides the translation of domain names into IP addresses. This is done through different types of DNS records.
The four most frequently used DNS records
The four most frequently used DNS records are A, AAAA, CNAME, and MX records.
A Records, also known as IPv4 address records, tell the domain name where to go, or more specifically, which one or more IPv4 addresses to use. For instance, an A record might look like this: The website of the example is a good example of the use of the principles of good design. com @ A 192. 0. 0. 1 14400.
AAAA Records work in a similar manner to A records; however, they contain IPv6 addresses. They are crucial for the future of the internet as we are out of IPv4 addresses or soon will be.
CNAME Records are used in referencing a domain alias rather than the domain name. They usually refer to an A record for that domain in IPv4 or an AAAA record in IPv6.
MX Records play a very important role in email delivery. They send email messages to servers for a domain, and multiple MX records pointing to the primary and backup email servers.
These are the basic DNS records and there are many others which are not listed here. There are many more, all of which have their specific uses.
The DNS Magnitude page in ICANN and StatDNS contain recent statistics that paint an interesting picture of DNS today. These resources provide a great deal of information ranging from the number of distinct networks that generate DNS requests, to the number of IPv4 and IPv6 glue records in the zone.
DNS and its records are the basic fundamentals that are needed to comprehend the internet’s infrastructure. In the subsequent sections of the article, which is devoted to the explanation of what DNS is, the reader will learn more about this intricate, yet indispensable system.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is essential to know ‘what is DNS’ for anyone who works in the sphere of information technologies. This system is commonly known as the internet’s spine and has a significant function in the delivery of information on the internet. It is like a phone directory for the internet, which helps in converting the easily recognizable web addresses into the hard to remember IP addresses.
It is important to note that the internet is dynamic and so is DNS. It is therefore important to keep abreast with the developments of what is DNS so that one can be in a position to maximize on the activities that are carried out online. As the use of the internet increases, the importance of DNS will also increase hence the need to understand it.
This article sought to explain DNS in a simple manner while at the same time ensuring that all aspects of DNS were covered. Hopefully, it has helped to explain this rather intricate but interesting area. Keep on being curious and never stop discovering the marvels of the world wide web!