What is DNS?

DNS stands for Domain Name System. It is a system that translates human-readable domain names (such as www.example.com) into machine-readable IP addresses (such as 192.0.2.1), which are used by computers to locate and communicate with websites on the internet.

When you type a domain name into your web browser, your computer sends a request to a DNS resolver to find the IP address associated with that domain name. The DNS resolver then looks up the IP address in a hierarchical database of DNS servers and returns the IP address to your computer. Your computer can then use that IP address to connect to the web server where the website is hosted and retrieve the content of the website.

DNS is an essential component of how the internet works and is crucial for ensuring that websites are accessible and can be located by users. It is also important to note that DNS records can be configured to control various aspects of how a website behaves, such as where email for the domain is delivered or which server is responsible for handling requests for subdomains of the website. The Domain Name System is a system of mapping names to IP addresses. Because domain names are alphabetic, they're easier for humans to remember. The Internet, however, is really based on IP addresses. Every time you use a domain name, DNS translates the name into the corresponding IP address. It is similar to a phonebook for the Internet.