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What are domain name servers used for?
by Mohan Kapoor, Supervisor, Himalayan Websites
Domain Name Servers accept requests to convert Domain Names into IP addresses from programs or other Domain Name Servers. If you surf the Internet with a browser or use e-mail then you make use of Domain Name Servers all the time, even so you may not be aware of it.
When a Domain Name Server receives a request, it answers it in one of the following ways:
- It returns an IP number for a requested domain which is known to it.
- It contacts other Domain Name Servers for help to find the IP for a given Domain Name.
- It returns the IP number of another name server which should know more than it does itself.
- It returns an error message if the requested domain name is invalid or seems not to exist.
When you type a web address into your browser, the browser's first step is to convert the domain name into an IP number so that the browser can go and request a web page from the machine at that IP number. To do this conversion, the browser has a conversation with a Domain Name Server.
Every domain is somewhere associated to a Domain Name Server which handles its requests. The whole domain names are organised like a single gigantic database in a hierarchical manner throughout the world on millions of servers.