What is a name server?

A name server, or DNS (domain name server) server, is how the world translates text names humans use for servers to the IP addresses used by computers worldwide. This can be for servers on or off the Internet. When you type www.teamITS.com into your browser, your computer asks a DNS server for the IP address to where the name www.teamITS.com points, and then connects directly to that address. If the first level DNS server does not know, it typically asks another, higher-level DNS server. Overall, names on the Internet are controlled by a select few "root" DNS servers, that control the top level domain names such as ".com" and ".net". The reason for all this is that humans tend to find a text name such as www.teamITS.com much easier to remember than its IP address, 204.200.196.170.

January 2005

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