DNS, which stands for Domain Name System, is a fundamental component of the internet infrastructure. It serves as a decentralized and distributed system that translates human-friendly domain names, such as example.com, into the numerical IP addresses that computers and servers use to communicate with each other.
When you enter a domain name into a web browser, the DNS system is responsible for resolving that name into the corresponding IP address, allowing your device to establish a connection to the desired website or online service. This translation process involves multiple DNS servers working together to locate and retrieve the IP address associated with the requested domain.
DNS operates through a hierarchical structure, with different types of DNS servers playing specific roles. The top-level DNS servers, also known as root servers, store information about the top-level domains (.com, .org, .net, etc.) and direct queries to the appropriate authoritative DNS servers. These authoritative servers, managed by domain registrars or internet service providers, store the IP addresses and other associated records for the domain names they manage.
In addition to translating domain names into IP addresses, DNS also handles other types of records, such as MX records for email routing and TXT records for various purposes like domain verification and SPF (Sender Policy Framework) for email authentication.
