DNS

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Introduction

The Domain Name Service is a networking protocol that allows users to address computers without remembering the cryptic numeric addresses actually used on lower levels. To do this, the DNS network translates between domain names (eg www.google.com) and the numeric IP Addresses (eg 64.233.167.99) that they represent.

DNS Servers

To allow you access to the global list of domain names, Internet service providers provide their users with a set of DNS servers. When a domain name needs to be resolved, devices will contact these servers and ask for a translation. The server will first check a local list of domain names and if a match is not found, will proceed to contact a higher-level server - this process continues until the name is found and the response is passed on to the device.

Generally the DNS server values are automatically passed on to devices via DHCP. In some cases, however, users must manually enter these values - in that case, the necessary addresses should have been provided by the ISP.