Internet Domain Name System

UNIT-II
Agenda
Overview of Domain Name System
IP Address
Uniform Resource Locator
Absolute and Relative URL
Domain Name System Architecture
Domain Name Space
Name Server
Working of DNS
Overview of Domain Name system(DNS)
 When DNS was not into existence, one had to download a Host file
containing host names and their corresponding IP address.

 But with increase in number of hosts of internet, the size of host file
also increased. This resulted in increased traffic on downloading this
file. To solve this problem the DNS system was introduced.

 Domain Name System helps to resolve the host name to an address. It

uses a hierarchical naming scheme and distributed database of IP
addresses and associated names
Why do you need an IP address?
 Anysystem that is connected to a network needs an IP address to
communicate with other systems in the network.
IP Address
IPaddress is a unique logical address assigned to a machine
over the network. An IP address exhibits the following
properties:

IPaddress is the unique address assigned to each host

present on Internet.

IP address is 32 bits (4 bytes) long.

 IPaddress consists of two components: network
component and host component.

Each of the 4 bytes is represented by a number from 0 to

255, separated with dots. For example 137.170.4.124

IPaddress is 32-bit number while on the other hand

domain names are easy to remember names. For example,
when we enter an email address we always enter a
symbolic string such as example@gmail.com.
Different Types of IP Addresses
While all IP addresses are made up of numbers or letters,
not all addresses are used for the same purpose.

◦ Private IP Address

◦ Public IP Address

◦ Static IP Address

◦ Dynamic IP Address
Private IP Addresses
PrivateIP addresses are used "inside" a network, like the
one you probably run at home.

These types of IP addresses are used to provide a way for

your devices to communicate with your router and all the
other devices in your private network.

PrivateIP addresses can be set manually or assigned

automatically by your router.
Public IP Addresses
PublicIP addresses are used on the "outside" of your
network and are assigned by your ISP.

 It's the main address that your home or business network

uses to communicate with the rest of the networked devices
around the world (i.e. the Internet).
address:

Difference:
PRIVATE IP ADDRESS PUBLIC IP ADDRESS
Scope is local. Scope is global.

It is used to communicate within the network. It is used to communicate outside the network.

Private IP addresses of the systems connected Public IP may differ in uniform or non-
in a network differ in a uniform manner. uniform manner.

It works only in LAN. It is used to get internet service.

It is used to load network operating system. It is controlled by ISP.

It is available in free of cost. It is not free of cost.

Private IP can be known by entering Public IP can be known by searching “what is

“ipconfig” on command prompt. my ip” on google.

Range:10.0.0.0 – 10.255.255.255, 172.16.0.0 – Range:

172.31.255.255, 192.168.0.0 – 192.168.255.255 Besides private IP addresses, rest are public.

Example: 192.168.1.10 Example: 17.5.7.8

Dynamic & Static IP Addresses
Both private IP addresses and public IP addresses are either
dynamic or static, which means that, respectively, they
either change or they don't.

An IP address that is assigned by a Dynamic Host

Configuration Protocol(DHCP) server is a dynamic IP
address. If a device does not have DHCP enabled or does
not support it then the IP address must be assigned
manually, in which case the IP address is called a static IP
address.
 S.NO STATIC IP ADDRESS
It is provided by ISP(Internet
1.
Service Provider).
Static ip address does not change
any time, it means if a static ip While dynamic ip address
2.
address is provided then it can’t change any time.
be changed or modified.
3. Static ip address is less secure.
Static ip address is difficult to
4.
designate.
The device designed by static ip
5.
address can be trace.
Static ip address is more stable
6.
than dynamic ip address.
The cost to maintain the static ip
7. address is higher than dynamic
ip address.
It is used where computational
8.
data is less confidential.
DYNAMIC IP ADDRESS
While it is provided by DHCP
(Dynamic Host Configuration
Protocol).
While in dynamic ip address,
there is low amount of risk than
static ip address’s risk.
While dynamic ip address is
easy to designate.
But the device designed by
dynamic ip address can’t be
trace.
While dynamic ip address is less
stable than static ip address.
While the maintaining cost of
dynamic ip address is less than
static ip address.
While it is used where data is
more confidential and needs
more security.
Finding Your Private IP Address
In Windows, you can find your device's IP address
via the Command Prompt, using the ipconfig
command.
Uniform Resource Locator (URL)
Uniform Resource Locator (URL) refers to a web address
which uniquely identifies a document over the internet.

◦ This document can be a web page, image, audio, video or

anything else present on the web.

◦ For example, https://www.charusat.ac.in/CMPICA is an

URL to the Home Page which is stored on web server
under internet technology directory.
URL Types
There are two forms of URL as listed below:

 Absolute URL

 Relative URL
ABSOLUTE URL
Absolute URL is a complete address of a resource on the web. This completed
address comprises of protocol used, server name, path name and file name.

Itis something that is independent or free from any relationship. When you use an
absolute URL, you point directly to a file. Hence, an absolute URL specifies
the exact location of a file/directory on the internet

◦ For example:

 http://www.webdevelopersnotes.com/images/email.gif specifies an image file email.gif located in

the images directory, under www.webdevelopersnotes.com domain name.

 Similarly, the absolute URL of the document you are viewing

is http://www.webdevelopersnotes.com/design/ relative_and_absolute_urls.php3which is a page in the
directory called design on this web site.
Relative URL
Relative URL is a partial address of a webpage. Unlike absolute URL,
the protocol and server part are omitted from relative URL.

Relative URLs are used for internal links i.e. to create links to file that
are part of same website as the WebPages on which you are placing the
link.

◦ Using an Absolute URL in a tag

 <img src="http://www.webdevelopersnotes.com/images/email.gif" width="..." height="..." />

◦ Using a Relative URL in a tag

 <img src="../images/email.gif" width="..." height="..." />
Domain Name System Architecture
TheDomain name system comprises of Domain
Names, Domain Name Space, Name Server 

Domain Names

◦ Domain Name is a symbolic string associated with an IP

address. There are several domain names available; some
of them are generic such as com, edu, gov, net etc, while
some country level domain names such as au, in, us etc.
Generic Top-Level Domain names
Domain Name Meaning
Com Commercial business
Edu Education
Gov U.S. government agency
Int International entity
Mil U.S. military
Net Networking organization
Org Non profit organization
Country top-level domain names
Domain Name Meaning
au Australia
in India
cl Chile
fr France
us United States
za South Africa
uk United Kingdom
jp Japan
es Spain
de Germany
ca Canada
ee Estonia
hk Hong Kong
DNS History (1)
 ARPANET utilized a central file
HOSTS.TXT
◦ Contains names to addresses mapping
◦ Maintained by SRI’s NIC (Stanford-Research-
Institute: Network-Information-Center)

 Administrators email changes to NIC

◦ NIC updates HOSTS.TXT periodically
 Administrators download HOSTS.TXT
DNS History (2)
 As the system grew, HOSTS.TXT had
problems with:
◦ Scalability (traffic and load)
◦ Name collisions
◦ Consistency
The DNS is…
The “Domain Name System”
What Internet users use to reference anything by
name on the Internet
The mechanism by which Internet software
translates names to attributes such as addresses
The DNS is also…
A globally distributed, scalable, reliable database
Comprised of three components
◦ A “name space”
◦ Servers making that name space available
◦ Resolvers (clients) which query the servers about the name space
DNS as a Lookup Mechanism
Users generally prefer names to numbers

Computers prefer numbers to names

DNS provides the mapping between the two

◦ I have “x”, give me “y”
DNS as a Database
Keys to the database are “domain names”
◦ www.foo.com, 18.in-addr.arpa, 6.4.e164.arpa
Over 200,000,000 domain names stored
Each domain name contains one or more attributes
◦ Known as “resource records”
Each attribute individually retrievable
Global Distribution
Data is maintained locally, but retrievable globally
◦ No single computer has all DNS data
DNS lookups can be performed by any device
Remote DNS data is locally cachable to improve
performance
Loose Coherency
Eachversion of a subset of the database (a zone) has a serial
number
◦ The serial number is incremented on each database change
Changes to the master copy of the database are propagated
to replicas according to timing set by the zone
administrator
Cached data expires according to timeout set by zone
administrator
Scalability
No limit to the size of the database
No limit to the number of queries
◦ Tens of thousands of queries handled easily every second
Queries distributed among masters, slaves, and
caches
Reliability
Data is replicated
◦ Data from master is copied to multiple slaves
Clients can query
◦ Master server
◦ Any of the copies at slave servers
Clients
will typically query local caches
DNS protocols can use either UDP or TCP
◦ If UDP, DNS protocol handles retransmission, sequencing, etc.
Dynamicity
Database can be updated dynamically
◦ Add/delete/modify of any record
◦ Only master can be dynamically updated

Modification of the master database triggers

replication
Overview
Introduction
to the DNS
DNS Components
◦ The name space
◦ The servers
◦ The resolvers
DNS Structure and Hierarchy
The Name Space
 The name space is the structure of the DNS database
◦ An inverted tree with the root node at the top
 Each node has a label
◦ The root node has a null label, written as “”
Subdomains
One domain is a subdomain of another if its domain name
ends in the other’s domain name
◦ So sales.nominum.com is a subdomain of
 nominum.com & com
◦ nominum.com is a subdomain of com
Delegation
 Administrators can create subdomains to group hosts
◦ According to geography, organizational affiliation etc.

 An
administrator of a domain can delegate responsibility for
managing a subdomain to someone else

 The parent domain retains links to the delegated subdomains

Delegation Creates Zones
Each time an administrator delegates a subdomain, a new
unit of administration is created
◦ The subdomain and its parent domain can now be administered
independently
◦ These units are called zones
◦ The boundary between zones is a point of delegation in the name
space
Delegation is good: it is the key to scalability
Overview
Introduction
to the DNS
DNS Components
◦ The name space
◦ The servers
◦ The resolvers
DNS Structure and Hierarchy
Name Servers
Name servers store information about the name space in
units called “zones”
◦ The name servers that load a complete zone are said to “have
authority for” or “be authoritative for” the zone
Usually,more than one name server are authoritative for
the same zone
◦ This ensures redundancy and spreads the load
Also, a single name server may be authoritative for many
zones
Types of Name Servers
Two main types of servers
◦ Authoritative – maintains the data
 Master – where the data is edited
 Slave – where data is replicated to
◦ Caching – stores data obtained from an authoritative server
No special hardware necessary
Name Server Architecture
You can think of a name server as part of:
◦ database server, answering queries about the parts of the
name space it knows about (i.e., is authoritative for),
◦ cache, temporarily storing data it learns from other name
servers, and
◦ agent, helping resolvers and other name servers find data
Overview
Introduction
to the DNS
DNS Components
◦ The name space
◦ The servers
◦ The resolvers
DNS Structure and Hierarchy
The DNS in Context
Name Resolution
Name resolution is the process by which resolvers and name
servers cooperate to find data in the name space
Closure mechanism for DNS?
◦ Starting point: the names and IP addresses of the name servers for
the root zone (the “root name servers”)
◦ The root name servers know about the top-level zones and can tell
name servers whom to contact for all TLDs
Name Resolution
Upon receiving a query from a resolver, a name server
◦ 1) looks for the answer in its authoritative data and its cache
◦ 2) If step 1 fails, the answer must be looked up
Questions?