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This is a question that might require a bit of “prior knowledge” in order for an answer to make sense.
Basically computers keep track of each other with complicated, unique numbers. This isn’t easy for humans to deal with so instead we have websites like netflix.com. DNS is a system that translates “netflix.com” to it’s more complicated unique computer address so that your computer connects to the netflix server when you type in that web address.
There are a number of servers (DNS Servers) on the Internet with databases that keep track of which website has what computer address. Usually, the company (ISP or Internet Service Provider) that you get Internet from has their own DNS Server and tells your modem to tell your computer or phone to use that server to look things up when you browse the web, but it is possible to use alternative servers.
Technically, the system is very trust-based - it’s just assumed that they are going to respond accurately and in good faith. It is possible to mess with this but there are other layers of security and authorities your computer should be using to make sure that you are actually visiting the website you think you are visiting. Usually ISPs just use this server to keep track of the websites you visit so they can sell your data to advertisers.
I’ll add that it works on a system of delegation.
So there are authoritative servers (which own a part of a domain) which can then have actual records or delegate to other authoritative servers.So the authoritative server for “com” (yes, as in
.com,comis technically a valid domain name) will delegategoogle.comto a DNS server (likely one owned by Google). And then Google will have DNS records formail.google.comand so on.So looking up
mail.google.com, technically you askcomDNS for themail.google.com. It won’t have an actual record, but will essentially say “go talk to this DNS server to getgoogle.comrecords”. So your computer asks this new DNS server formail.google.comand it might have an answer, or it might have delegated themail.google.comsomewhere else.What your computer most likely is using, however, is a recursive DNS service. You ask it for
mail.google.comand it will “walk the tree” to finally return the IP address.
And then it will cache the results (forcomgoogle.comandmail.google.com) so the next queries are significantly faster.
DNS = Domain Name System
Every domain has an IP behind it, DNS looks up the IP of the domain you’re visiting and caches the request and verifies it with the registrar (aka where the domain was purchased)
Perks of running your own DNS resolver, such as PiHole. let you visualize what servers/websites the devices on your network are connecting to and if you so choose, blacklist unwanted or malicious servers/websites so that devices cannot look them up.
Very roughly speaking: Every device connected to the Internet is identified and communicated with using a unique number - just like the telephone system.
DNS keeps track of the correlation between the device number vs how that device is identified in language.
Very much like a telephone directory.
The DNS server is, in a nutshell, the middleman between your computer and the web server you want to access. It lets you use URLs (easy to remember words) to access web servers, which have IP addesses (usually difficult to remember). The browser sends the URL (which includes the protocol, usually HTTPS, as well as the domain name and other bits) and the DNS server checks it against a list of IP addresses.
If they find a match, the request is sent to the correct web server and a connection between the browser and the server is established. When no match is found, other DNS servers are contacted to see if they have the entry. If there is still no results, you get an error telling you the URL does not exist.
As others have mentioned, it’s a bit like a phone book where you look for somebody’s name (the URL) to find the phone number that you can use to communicate with them (the phone number). But I think it more resembles calling a friend (the DNS server) for the phone number of the person you want to contact (the web server), and the friend can either tell you what it is, if they know this person, or call other friends to see if they know their phone number.
The most common DNS service is Google’s, so if you’re not using Cloudflare, NextDNS, or similar, Google is the middleman yet again! You might have seen that xkcd on the “8.8.8.8” DNS service, where all other products are hypothetically killed to focus on their Google DNS.
I found the relevant xkcd: https://xkcd.com/1361/
Could you mean the IP address of the DNS server? I think of DNS like a phone book. It’s a list of all the domain names like canadiancancersociety.org and their corresponding IP addresses like 209.15.37.6. the DNS server would basically be “where’s the phone book?” The most common ones being 8.8.8.8 and 1.1.1.1, Google and CloudFlare. I use 9.9.9.9!
The ‘Domain Name System’ is like a phone book. This can be stored on a router or other places. When you type in the humon “Google.com” the computer has no clue what your talking about, and this will be converted to an IP address, of which computers understand where to route y our request to, so you can get/load/see the website.
An DNS address meaning probably refers to something like 1.1.1.1 but your question isn’t complete acute.
The question doesn’t really make sense…
DNS (domain name system) is a protocol that keeps and communicates lists of host name/ip address pairs.
So a “dns address” would be an IP address.
It’s like looking up someone’s phone number.
Every computer on the internet has a number that says how to contact it, like a phone number. DNS is a service that turns text web addresses into those numbers and back again. So when you type in soulism.net, DNS tells your computer what the number for that website is and sends you there.
It’s like a name in your contacts list so you don’t have to remember the number.
I can go into more detail if you’d like, but the main purpose of DNS is so you don’t have to remember IP addresses.
