Domain name servers
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Definition of domain name servers
Every computer on the Internet has a numeric IP address (for example, 69.20.126.7) that acts like a telephone number, allowing each computer to find and talk to other computers. Because numeric addresses are hard to remember, mnemonic names that resolve or point to these numeric Internet addresses are typically used.
The mnemonic names are called domain names, and the service that resolves the names to numbers is called Domain Name Service or Domain Name System (DNS). The servers that answer queries on how to resolve these names are called domain name servers — also DNS for short, or just name servers.
Domain name servers are accessed almost time someone goes to a web page or uses email. (Websites can also be accessed via IP addresses.)
The DNS database
One person can make up to hundreds of DNS requests in a day, and since billions of people are online at any time, the DNS system is one of the largest databases in the world. It's a distributed database, meaning that the database is maintained on computers in various locations in many different countries. No single organization is responsible for it, but millions of people update it. New IP addresses and domain names are created every day and added to the billions already in existence.
How domain name servers work
DNS and web hosting
These steps make it possible for name servers to connect people to web pages:
- Website owners register the domain names they'll be using through a domain name registrar. Domains must be currently registered.
- When users open a web hosting account with a web hosting provider, the web hosting provider sends the clients name servers to use for their account. Name servers typically start with ns1 and ns2 and then have a domain belonging to the web host. Or the clients may have private name servers using their own domain, for example, ns1.inetinteractive.com and ns2.inetinteractive.com. These name servers have IP addresses assigned to them.
- The web hosting clients must enter those name servers in their domain record via their domain name control panel. In other words, they need to point the domains to the name servers.
If the web hosting clients have more than one website on the same account (for example, if they have multi-domain hosting, a reseller account, or a VPS), they can set up additional domains via their web hosting and domain name control panels using the same name servers.
Domains can take up to 24 hours to propagate (be accessible from any computer connected to the Internet), but they often propagate within in hour or less.
DNS and website access
Domain name servers convert domains into IP addresses so that users can access the web pages that they're trying to reach.
A user types into a browser a URL, for example, http://www.webhostingtalk.com/wiki. The domain name for this page is webhostingtalk.com. When the request for the domain is made, the browser connects with a domain name server to search for the IP address for that domain. If the name server has cached the IP address for that domain, it can respond faster. If it hasn't, it connects to other name servers to try to locate the IP address for that domain. The web page will be displayed after the domain name server has successfully located the IP address for the domain.
See also
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