8.

2 Networking
Domain Name System (DNS)
It manages internet sites
The Domain Name System (DNS) is a standard technology for managing the names of Web sites
and other Internet domains.
Domain Name Service is a service used to convert human readable host names (domain name
such as [Link], [Link] etc) to IP addresses.
Domain Name System is like the phonebook of the Internet. Humans access information online
through domain names.
Web browsers interact through Internet Protocol (IP) addresses. DNS translates domain names to
IP addresses so browsers can load Internet resources.

Domain Name Service has three components

i) Resolver
ii) Name server
iii) Database

Resolver: A resolver provides clients with address information about other computers on the
network.
Database: database is an archive of information about the computers in a network.
Name Servers: A name server contains address information about other computers on the
network. This information can be given to client computers that make a request to the name
server.

Related terms
Clients: A client requests information from the servers. In a domain name system, the client
requests network addressing information from the name servers.
Domains: A domain is a logical group of computers in a large network. Access to each
computer in a given group is controlled by the same server.

URL - Uniform Resource Locator

The URL is the address of a web page, like: [Link]

How the browser uses the Domain Name Service (DNS) to display the web page.
1. URL is a reference address to a resource on the Internet.
2. The URL is passed to the nearest Domain Name Server (by browser software).
3. DNS server stores a database / list of URLs and matching IP addresses.
4. DNS (Name Resolver) looks for the URL in its database.
5. Finds the matching IP address and returns it to the originator.
6. Or if it cannot find it, it forwards to another Domain Name Server at a higher level.
7. (Original) DNS server adds the returned IP address to its cache.
8. (Original) DNS server returns the IP address to the browser.
Objective(s)
 Learners should be able to explain the concept of Domain Name System and describe
generic domain names.
Domain Name System (DNS)
DNS translates domain names to IP addresses so browsers can load Internet resources. Each
device connected to the Internet has a unique IP address which other machines use to find the
device. DNS servers eliminate the need for humans to memorize IP addresses such as 192.168.
An application layer protocol defines how the application processes running on different
systems, pass the messages to each other.
o DNS stands for Domain Name System.
o DNS is a directory service that provides a mapping between the name of a host on the
network and its numerical address.
o DNS is required for the functioning of the internet.
o Each node in a tree has a domain name, and a full domain name is a sequence of symbols
specified by dots.
o DNS is a service that translates the domain name into IP addresses. This allows the users
of networks to utilize user-friendly names when looking for other hosts instead of
remembering the IP addresses.
o For example, suppose the FTP site at EduSoft had an IP address of [Link], most
people would reach this site by specifying [Link]. Therefore, the domain name
is more reliable than IP address.
Generi
It defines the registered hosts according to their generic behaviour.

o Each node in a tree defines the domain name, which is an index to the DNS database.
o It uses three-character labels, and these labels describe the organization type as shown on
the table below.
Label Description
Aero Airlines and aerospace companies
Biz Businesses or firms
 Com Commercial Organizations
Coop Cooperative business Organizations
Edu Educational institutions
Gov Government institutions
Info Information service providers
Int International Organizations
Mil Military groups
Museum Museum & other non-profit organizations
Name Personal names
Net Network Support centers
Org Non-profit Organizations
Pro Professional individual Organizations

Country Domain
The format of country domain is same as a generic domain, but it uses two-character country
abbreviations (e.g., us for the United States) in place of three character organizational
abbreviations.
Inverse Domain
The inverse domain is used for mapping an address to a name. When the server has received a
request from the client, and the server contains the files of only authorized clients. To determine
whether the client is on the authorized list or not, it sends a query to the DNS server and ask for
mapping an address to the name.
How does the DNS work?
o DNS is a client/server network communication protocol. DNS clients send requests to the
server while DNS servers send responses to the client.
o Client requests contain a name which is converted into an IP address known as a forward
DNS lookups while requests containing an IP address which is converted into a name
known as reverse DNS lookups.
o DNS implements a distributed database to store the name of all the hosts available on the
internet.
o If a client like a web browser sends a request containing a hostname, then a piece of
software such as DNS resolver sends a request to the DNS server to obtain the IP address
of a hostname. If DNS server does not contain the IP address associated with a hostname,
then it forwards the request to another DNS server. If IP address has arrived at the
resolver, which in turn completes the request over the internet protocol.

There are 4 DNS servers involved in loading a webpage:

DNS recursor
The DNS recursor is a server designed to receive queries from client machines through
applications such as web browsers. Typically the recursor is then responsible for making additional
requests in order to satisfy the client’s DNS query. The recursor can be thought of as a librarian
who is asked to go find a particular book somewhere in a library.
Root nameserver
The root server is the first step in translating (resolving) human readable host names into IP
addresses. It can be thought of like an index in a library that points to different racks of books -
typically it serves as a reference to other more specific locations.
TLD nameserver
This nameserver is the next step in the search for a specific IP address, and it hosts the last
portion of a hostname. The top level domain server (TLD) can be thought of as a specific rack of
books in a library.

Authoritative name server

 The authoritative name server is the last stop in the name server query.
 If the authoritative name server has access to the requested record, it will return the IP
address for the requested hostname back to the DNS Recursor that made the initial
request.
 This final nameserver can be thought of as a dictionary on a rack of books, in which a
specific name can be translated into its definition.
What is a DNS resolver?
 The DNS resolver is the first stop in the DNS lookup, and it is responsible for dealing
with the client that made the initial request.
 The resolver starts the sequence of queries that ultimately leads to a URL being translated
into the necessary IP address.
 A typical uncached DNS lookup will involve both recursive and iterative queries.

Activity
Explain the DNS servers involved when sending a web page.

Summary
 DNS translates domain names to IP addresses so browsers can load Internet resources.
 Each device connected to the Internet has a unique IP address which other machines use
to find the device.
 DNS servers eliminate the need for humans to memorize IP addresses such as 192.168.