Domain Name System (DNS) is a hierarchical naming system for computers, phones, and other devices. When you type a website address into your browser, your computer looks up the address in DNS.
DNS translates the website address into a numerical IP address that your computer can use to find the website.
DNS is a critical part of the internet. Without DNS, you would not be able to access websites. DNS also lets you easily find the location of a website on the internet. For example, if you type the website address www.
example.com into your browser, your computer will look up the website in DNS and return the numerical IP address for www.example.com.
DNS servers are used to provide this service. A DNS server is a computer that stores the DNS records for a particular domain name.
DNS records are files that contain the information needed to map a domain name to a numerical IP address.
DNS servers are located all over the world. When you type a website address into your browser, your computer checks to see if the website address is registered with a DNS server for the domain name you are trying to visit.
If the website address is not registered with a DNS server for the domain name you are trying to visit, your computer will look up the website address in DNS using the IP address for the domain name you are trying to visit.
DNS servers can also be used to resolve domain names to IP addresses. For example, if you type the domain name icloud.com into your browser, your computer will look up the DNS record for icloud.
com and return the IP address for icloud.
