🎁 New User? Get 20% off your first purchase with code NEWUSER20 Register Now →
Menu

Categories

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

TCP vs UDP
Two transport layer protocols: TCP provides reliable, ordered delivery while UDP provides fast, connectionless delivery without guarantees.
Network Segmentation
The practice of dividing a network into isolated segments to improve security, performance, and management.
Port
A numbered endpoint (0-65535) that identifies specific processes or services on a networked computer for communication.
WireGuard
A modern, lightweight VPN protocol that uses state-of-the-art cryptography and minimal code for fast, secure tunneling.
Network Monitoring
The practice of continuously observing network infrastructure to detect failures, performance degradation, and security threats.
Content Delivery Network (CDN)
A geographically distributed network of servers that caches and delivers web content from locations closest to users for faster load times.
 View All Networking Terms →