DNS is the Domain Name System. Every domain uses the system design. Most people that have a domain name, only see the paperwork side of it, and perhaps don't understand how it actually works. I hope this fills in the details in a non technical description.
The `system' consists of several different items in paperwork form, and in the mapping of the hardware that is involved.
Every piece of hardware that accesses the internet network requires a MAC address.
This ID number is issued by the IEEE
http://www.ieee.org/index.htmlAppreciate this fact, because the network card within your computer has a MAC address... a unique ID number which is written in hexidecimal number notation, rather than decimal.
If you have forgotten your math, hexidecimal has numbers from zero to 15, it is 0 to 9, then A=10, B=11, to F=15 in decimal. This number can be read in any computer that shows the IP address and usually tagged as `networking'.
An IP address is used to map the internet. To get an IP address, you need to have a MAC address ID number. No MAC ID number, no IP address from your ISP. Thus when you have a network card in your computer that has a MAC ID number, and your ISP gives you an IP address, you are ready to be mapped to the internet.
The mapping is extensive, and much of it, exists in static or fixed ways. Your ISP has connection equipment which is connected to others in the global network. When you connect your internet device to your ISP's modem, your ISP extends to mapping from his equipment to yours.
This is how the phone system has worked in the past and continues today in internet design/use. There is a big difference from a standard phone line to broadband, which multiplies the number of phone lines you can have.
I make this point so that all can appreciate, when you request a web page, your browser calls the website to get the page, and then keeps calling back for any images the page may need, for display.
Your browser is basicly a robot, carrying out your command to view a web site page.
How does this happen ? It starts with DNS or the Domain Name System.
Your browser calls the DNS server, and gives the domain name as input, and in return your browser gets a very long phone number, which it then calls, to get the web page.
Now to cover the paperwork side. If you go to a website and want to learn more about the website, you can use software to `lookup' that information. It is usually called `whois' software and available on the web as page requests.
This
http://www.cira.ca is the Canadian Internet Registration Authority. Visit the page. In the upper right corner it says Whois search. Type in `radiowest.ca' without the quotes, and it returns a sheet that details the administrative person and the technical person to contact about the website. In the U.S. this information is often hidden, however most other countries have it available for public viewing. It is similar to white/yellow page listings but more detailed since it is a domain name on a public network.
If you have or decide to have your own domain name, then you can run domain name server software from your home/office. Doing this has its benefits if you have several computers, and want to make the DNS work for you.
Appreciate that the DNS form sits on your computer or your ISP. If you have a website, then someone would use
http://www.mydomain.ca to get to that website address.
The `www' is a prefix to the domain name. The prefix can be given an IP address in the DNS listing. The `www' prefix points to a web server. There are other standard prefixes like ftp or mail which point to these types of servers.
When you run your own DNS, you can add prefixes for your own benefit. Your ISP may not do this for you. These prefixes can point to other IP addresses on your home/office network, or to other devices on the internet, in the described mapping method.
The domain name system is a mapping system for devices that have MAC addresses and IP addresses. Both of which are found within your computer's network device. Your IP address can change often, however, your MAC address remains the same because you keep using the same device. You can be traced/tracked on the network by your IP and MAC addresses.