(Domain Name System) DNS

What is DNS?
The domain name system (DNS) is a naming database in which internet domain names are located and translated into
Internet Protocol (IP) addresses.
The domain name system maps the name people use to locate a website to the IP address that a computer uses to locate
that website.

For example, if someone types "example.com" into a web browser, a server behind the scenes maps that name to the
corresponding IP address. An IP address is similar in structure to 203.0.113.72
The domain name system (i.e., “DNS”) is responsible for translating domain names into a specific IP address so that the
initiating client can load the requested Internet resources.
The domain name system works much like a phone book where users can search for a requested person and retrieve their
phone number.
DNS servers translate requests for specific domains into IP addresses, controlling which server users with access when
they enter the domain name into their browser
 DNS structure
 The domain name is usually contained in a URL.
 A domain name is made of multiple parts, called labels.
 The TLD appears after the period in the domain name.
 Examples of top-level domains include .com, .org and .edu, but there are many others. Some may
denote a country code or geographic location, such as .us for the United States or .ca for Canada.
 Each label on the left-hand side of the TLD denotes another subdomain of the domain to the right.
 For example, in the URL www.imcbH9.edu, “IMCBH9" is a subdomain of .edu, and "www." is a
subdomain of IMCBH9.edu.
 How To Convert A Domain Name Into An I.P Address

1- using Command prompt

Nslookup is the name of a program that lets users enter a host name and find out the corresponding IP address or
domain name system (DNS) record.
Step 1: Open Command Prompt. [Type ‘CMD’ in RUN]
 Step 2: Type NSLOOKUP youtube.com [Your domain name goes here] and hit Enter
 Youtube.com’s IP Address is: 192.168.1.1

2- Using Online Converters

Here are few online links for Domain Name to I.P address convertor.
https://www.coderstool.com/
https://www.rankwatch.com/
https://domaintoipconverter.com/
https://dnschecker.org/ip-to-hostname.php
 How DNS Servers Work
The DNS directory is distributed worldwide, stored in special servers called dns servers (i.e., “domain name
servers”).
A DNS server stores specific information that pairs a domain name with particular IP addresses.
A domain may have one or hundreds of IP addresses associated with it.
Amazon.com, for example, has thousands of servers across the globe, and the physical server that a user connects
within one country is likely completely different from another user elsewhere around the world.
 Types of Domain
There are various kinds of domain:

Generic domains: .com(commercial), .edu(educational), .mil(military), .org(nonprofit

organization), .net(similar to commercial) all these are generic domains.

Country domain: .pk (Pakistan) .us .uk .in etc.

Name-to-Address Resolution

The host requests the DNS name server to resolve the domain name. And the name server
returns the IP address corresponding to that domain name to the host so that the host can future
connect to that IP address.
 Eight steps in a DNS lookup
1. A user enters a domain name (e.g., facebook.com) into their browser, and the browser sends the query via their
internet service provider isp to a DNS recursive resolver.

2. The DNS recursive resolver, in turn, sends a query to the root DNS nameserver (.).

3. The root server returns to the resolver the address of the top-level domain (i.e., “TLD”) DNS root server, which
has the needed information for the facebook.com domain. (Examples of a top- level domain tld include “.com”,
“.net”, and “.org,” which each TLD having it’s own root DNS server.)

4. In turn, the resolver then sends the information request to the Top-Level Domain server (In this case, the “.com”
TLD nameserver).
Top-level domain (TLD) server:
It is responsible for com, org, edu, etc, and all top-level country domains like uk, fr, ca, in, etc.
They have info about authoritative domain servers and know the names and IP addresses of each
authoritative name server for the second-level domains.

Authoritative name servers

are the organization’s DNS servers, providing authoritative hostnames to IP mapping for organization
servers. It can be maintained by an organization or service provider.
5. The TLD name server responds to the resolver with the targeted IP address of the domain’s nameserver. (In this
case, the DNS server for “facebook.com”.)

6. Next, the DNS recursive resolver sends the query to the domain’s DNS server.

7. The domain’s DNS server then returns the IP address to the DNS resolver for the requested domain (e.g.,
“facebook.com”.

8. Finally, the DNS resolver returns the IP address of the requested domain to the requesting web browser. The
browser sends the HTTPS request to the targeted IP address, and the server with that address returns the webpage,
which renders in the user’s browser.
 Types of DNS Services
There are two primary types of services that DNS servers provide:
1- Authoritative DNS and
2- Recursive DNS.

Recursive DNS Server:

As discussed in the DNS lookup process description, the recursive DNS server responds to a request from the client
and returns the IP address for the requested domain name.
The recursive resolver server makes a series of requests until it reaches the authoritative DNS nameserver for the
requested domain.

Authoritative DNS Server: The authoritative DNS server is the server that actually holds and maintains the record
for the requested domain. The authoritative DNS server also has an updated mechanism, allowing administrators to
manage their public DNS names. The authoritative DNS server is the final source of truth for a domain’s DNS
information and is responsible for providing the domain’s IP address information back to the requesting recursive
DNS server.