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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An intermediary server that forwards requests between clients and destination servers, providing caching, filtering, or anonymity.

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