DNS functionality

So, you finally decided upon a web host to store your website data and information. You chose a domain name from your host and you are ready to start marketing your site. Did you know that your web site is actually already named? It's true. This is how DNS works. Every website is given a 32 bit number expressed in 4 octets, separated by decimal points. For example: www.xyz.com actually has a pre-assigned number to it like: 199.249.150.4.

Of course, it would be way to hard to remember numbers such as this (IP addresses) so the powers that be decided to generate a naming system that would allow websites to be named by words instead of numbers. This makes it much easier to search and remember your favorite website. The database that translates this information is known as DNS or Domain Name server.

DNS functionality includes a variety of tasks that you never see. When you type in a website name in your web browser, a request is sent to the DNS. There is a global network of DNS servers that contain information regarding all websites on the planet. Nobody owns these DNS servers they are considered a distributed database. If one DNS server cannot locate the IP address of a website it transfers the request to another DNS, which will pursue the search for the IP address. Once the IP address is resolved, the DNS server send the corresponding website, associated with a name to the clients browser.

DNS functionality consists of a software component known as BIND (Berekely Internet Name Domain). This software is based on a top-level domain system and a hierarchal tree-structured system. The top is recognized as a “ . “(dot) and is known as the root. Below the root, there are subdomains like: .com,.org, .gov, .net and so on.

DNS functionality is contained within your computer, your browser and on name servers. There is a host of information and data codes speaking back and forth to regulate the process of assigning a word (www.xyz.com) into an numbered IP address (199.249.150.4) There are time limits, restrictions and errors that can take place during this process. These error messages are pre-programmed within the BIND software that enables your computer to send you a message that says “This IP address no longer exist" or “Internet address not found"