DNS, or Domain Name System, is a crucial component of the internet infrastructure that

translates human-readable domain names into numerical IP addresses. This translation

is essential because computers, servers, and networking equipment communicate using
IP addresses, which are numerical identifiers.

Here's how DNS works:

1. Domain Names: Users typically access websites using domain names (e.g.,
www.example.com) rather than IP addresses. These domain names are easier for people
to remember.
2. DNS Resolution: When you enter a domain name into a web browser, your computer
initiates a DNS resolution process. It first checks its local cache to see if it already knows
the corresponding IP address for the given domain. If the information is not found
locally, it proceeds to the next step.
3. DNS Query: If the IP address is not in the local cache, your computer sends a DNS
query to a recursive DNS server. Recursive DNS servers are responsible for finding the IP
address associated with the requested domain.
4. Root DNS Server: If the recursive DNS server does not have the required information, it
starts the resolution process by querying one of the 13 root DNS servers. These root
servers maintain a list of authoritative DNS servers for top-level domains (TLDs).
5. TLD DNS Server: The root DNS server responds to the recursive server with the IP
address of the TLD DNS server (e.g., .com, .org, .net) responsible for the specific top-
level domain of the requested domain.
6. Authoritative DNS Server: The recursive DNS server then queries the authoritative
DNS server for the specific domain. This server is responsible for maintaining the DNS
records for the domain.
7. DNS Records: The authoritative DNS server responds to the recursive server with the IP
address associated with the requested domain. This information is then cached at the
recursive server for future use and sent back to the user's computer.
8. Website Access: Armed with the IP address, the user's computer can now connect to
the web server hosting the requested website, and the content is retrieved and
displayed in the user's web browser.

Key components of DNS include:

 DNS Resolver: The client-side software or service that initiates the DNS resolution
process on behalf of a user's device.
 Recursive DNS Server: The server that performs DNS queries on behalf of the client. It
may cache DNS records to speed up future queries.
 Root DNS Server: One of the 13 authoritative servers at the top level of the DNS
hierarchy. They point to the authoritative servers for top-level domains.
 TLD DNS Server: Authoritative servers responsible for top-level domains like .com, .org,
.net, etc.
 Authoritative DNS Server: The DNS server that holds the actual DNS records for a
specific domain.

DNS plays a crucial role in making the internet user-friendly by allowing people to
access websites using human-readable names rather than numeric IP addresses.