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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.

Related Terms

Traceroute
A network diagnostic tool that shows the path packets take from source to destination, listing each hop along the way.
Anycast
A network routing technique where the same IP address is announced from multiple locations, directing users to the nearest server.
TCP vs UDP
Two transport layer protocols: TCP provides reliable, ordered delivery while UDP provides fast, connectionless delivery without guarantees.
ARP (Address Resolution Protocol)
A protocol that maps IP addresses to physical MAC addresses on a local network segment.
CIDR Notation
A compact method for specifying IP addresses and their associated routing prefix using a slash followed by the prefix length.
HTTP/HTTPS
The protocol used for transferring web pages and data between browsers and servers, with HTTPS adding encryption.
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