Networking Beginner

What is DNS (Domain Name System)?

A hierarchical naming system that translates human-readable domain names into IP addresses.

DNS acts as the internet's phone book. When you type "example.com," DNS resolves it to an IP address like 93.184.216.34. The resolution process involves recursive resolvers, root servers, TLD servers, and authoritative nameservers.

Common record types include A (IPv4), AAAA (IPv6), CNAME (alias), MX (mail), TXT (verification), and NS (nameserver). DNS caching reduces lookup times with TTL (Time To Live) values.

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The time delay between sending a request and receiving a response, measured in milliseconds.

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The time it takes for DNS record changes to spread across all DNS servers worldwide, typically taking up to 48 hours.

Two transport layer protocols: TCP provides reliable, ordered delivery while UDP provides fast, connectionless delivery without guarantees.

MTU (Maximum Transmission Unit)

The maximum size of a data packet that can be transmitted over a network without fragmentation.

ARP (Address Resolution Protocol)

A protocol that maps IP addresses to physical MAC addresses on a local network segment.

A set of rules that control inbound and outbound traffic at the subnet level, acting as a stateless firewall in cloud and enterprise networks.

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