INTRODUCTION TO
Domain Name System
Ashima Wadhwa
Assistant
Professor(IT) Amity
University,Noida
Definitions
DNS Definition
• The “Domain Name System”
Created in 1983 by Paul Mockapetris (RFCs 1034 and
1035), modified, updated, and enhanced by many
of subsequent RFCs
• The Internet users use DNS to reference anything by name
on the Internet
• The mechanism by which Internet software translates
names to addresses and vice versa
Definitions
DNS Definition …
• IP assigns 32-bit addresses to hosts (interfaces)
• Domain names comprise a hierarchy so that names are
unique, easy to remember.
Definitions
Domain Names
• A domain name is the sequence of labels
from a node to the root, separated by dots
(“.”s), read left to right
• Example domain names:
– yemen.net.ye
– Yahoo.com
Definitions
&SubDomain Name
• one domain is a sub-Domain of another if its
domain name ends in the other’s domain name
– So yemen.net.ye is a subdomain of
• net.ye
• ye
– google.com is a subdomain of com.
DNS Naming Structure
Top-Level Domains
DNS Naming Structure
Country Code Domains
• Top level domains are US-centric .
• Geographic TLDs used for organizations in other countries:
TLD Country
.uk United Kingdom
.fr France
.ye Yemen
• Countries define their own internal hierarchy:
gov.ye, org.ye ,net.ye , edu.ye and com.ye are used for
organizations in Yemen
DNS Naming Structure
Second-Level Domains
• Within every top-level domain there is a huge list of 2nd
level domains
• For example, in the COM second-level domain, you've
got:
– yahoo
– msn
– microsoft
– plus millions of others...
DNS Naming Structure
DNS naming structure Example
Examples:
2nd LD
TLD
Google .com
ccTLD
yemen .net .ye
3rd LD 2nd LD
DNS Components
The Domain
• A Domain is a sub tree of a larger tree identified by a domain
name
• Contains resource records and sub-domains
• Some resource records point to authoritative server for sub-
domains / zones
• eg. the root contains pointers to .ye
• Yemen.net.ye is a domain
How DNS Servers work
How DNS Servers work(web)
You type http://www.google.com into your web browser and
hit enter.
Step 1: Your PC sends a resolution request to its configured DNS
Server, typically at your ISP.
Tell me the Address of
“www.google.com”
How DNS Servers work
How DNS Servers work(web)
Step 2: Your ISPs recursive name server starts by asking one
of the root servers predefined in its “hints” file.
Tell me the Address of
“www.google.com”
I don’t know the address but I
know who’s authoritative for the
”com” domain ask them
How DNS Servers work
How DNS Servers work(web)
Step 3: Your ISPs recursive name server then asks one of the
“com” name servers as directed.
Tell me the Address
of
“www.google.com”
I don’t know the address but I
know who’s authoritative for the
”google.com” domain ask them
How DNS Servers work
How DNS Servers work(web)
Step 4: Your ISPs recursive name server then asks one of the
“google.com” name servers as directed.
Tell me the Address of
“www.google.com”
The Address of
www.google.com is
216.239.53.99
How DNS Servers work
How DNS Servers work(web)
Step 5: ISP DNS server then send the answer back to your PC.
The DNS server will “remember” the answer for a period of
time.
The Address of
www.google.com is
216.239.53.99
How DNS Servers work
How DNS Servers work(web)
Step 6: Your PC can then make the actual HTTP request to the
web server.
Send me the
www.google.com
web page
Here it is!
The End
• Comments?
• Questions?
