{"id":3961,"date":"2022-08-03T15:40:27","date_gmt":"2022-08-03T15:40:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/obambu.com\/guide\/?p=3961"},"modified":"2022-08-03T15:40:28","modified_gmt":"2022-08-03T15:40:28","slug":"what-is-dns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/obambu.com\/guide\/what-is-dns\/","title":{"rendered":"What is DNS?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>DNS stands for Domain Name System. The system translates domain names that are readable by people into IP addresses which the browser uses to load site pages. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Every device connected to the internet has a <strong>unique IP address<\/strong> that other devices use to find them. <strong>DNS servers<\/strong> allow people to use normal domain words that are easy to remember and write without having to recall every site\u00b4s <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/public-dns.info\/\">IP address<\/a><\/strong> that are usually long and hard to type in (i.e IPV4 192.168.1.1)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How DNS works<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>As we\u00b4ve told earlier, DNS servers translate domain names into IP addresses. But <strong>how exactly do they do that?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When you make a search online, the URL you type goes through different <strong>servers<\/strong> to give the IP address.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>DNS recursor:<\/strong> also known as <strong>DNS resolver,<\/strong> receives the inquiry and contacts the other servers to find the correct IP address. These servers are operated by local networks, Internet Providers or third parties.                                                                       <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>What the resolver does in first place is to look on the local cache for the hostname. If it finds it, it resolves the IP address immediately. If it doesn\u00b4t, then contacts the <strong>root DNS server<\/strong> and <strong>TLD nameservers<\/strong>. The TLD nameserver then receives details from an authoritative nameserver, asks for the requested hostname then matches it with the IP address, solving the request.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Root DNS server<\/strong>: root servers are the first responsible to <strong>translate the domain<\/strong> to an IP address. These root servers answer different queries from other servers from the DNS. The root servers at first don\u00b4t know the IP address from the domain but do know where the nameservers that serve the domain are. After it finds the <strong>TLD server<\/strong>, it sends a query. Then the nameserver finds where the domain is stored and requests the IP address for that domain.<\/li><li><strong>TLD nameservers<\/strong>: these nameservers <strong>find the domain<\/strong> and request the IP address from an authoritative nameserver. This authoritative nameserver will contain the DNS records for the domain the user wants to search. Currently, there\u00b4s a specific nameserver for each TLD (Top Level Domain) like .com, .eu\u2026<\/li><li><strong>Authoritative nameservers<\/strong>: this is the final part in the IP query. After the request, the authoritative nameservers checks if it has information from the domain and subdomain. Then <strong>check the DNS <\/strong>information and send the IP address to the DNS resolver.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>With the DNS query resolved, the client gains access to the website or server and is able to communicate with it. The DNS will then be cached and <strong>remembered<\/strong>. That way the resolver directly gives the <strong>IP address<\/strong> of the searched domain when the client requests it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What\u00b4s the difference between recursor and authoritative DNS?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>After seeing how DNS works, it\u00b4s time to see what\u00b4s the difference between the recursor and authoritative DNS to better understand how it works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Authoritative<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Authoritative servers are in charge of <strong>connecting<\/strong> different domain names to their IP address. Think of them as the contact list on your phone, they find your contact\u00b4s name and then the number associated to that name to make a call.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They\u00b4re responsible for different regions like a certain local area or organization. These servers are also in charge of <strong>two very important jobs<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>To <strong>keep a record<\/strong> on the different TLD\u00b4s and IP addresses that those domains have<\/li><li>The server is responsible of <strong>responding to requests<\/strong> from the recursor and the needed IP addresses from the domain names the client is trying to visit.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Recursive<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>As we\u00b4ve seen, the <strong>recursive server<\/strong> <strong>oversees<\/strong> receiving the URL from the search browser. It then checks the cache to see if it has the IP address from the domain. If not in the cache, the recursive DNS finds the IP address through the root, <strong>TLD<\/strong> or <strong>authoritative servers.<\/strong> Then saves it for a period of time called <strong>TTL (Time To Live)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This period of time is defined by the owner of the domain by setting a specific<strong> TTL<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To sum up this information, think of <strong>authoritative servers<\/strong> as the servers that <strong>keep the information<\/strong> of the IP addresses. While the <strong>recursive server<\/strong> acts as a <strong>mediator<\/strong> between the server and the client. It then courses through the DNS network to get the information from the authoritative server and the client.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We hope you enjoyed this article. If you want to read more about hosting and tech tutorials check out the rest of our articles on the <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/obambu.com\/guide\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Obambu Guide.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>DNS stands for Domain Name System. The system translates domain names that are readable by people into IP addresses which the browser uses to load site pages. Every device connected to the internet has a unique IP address that other devices use to find them. DNS servers allow people to use normal domain words that<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3963,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-3961","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-web-hosting"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v16.6.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>What is DNS? - Obambu Guide | Navigating the Web Hosting World<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The DNS is in charge of translating domain names that are readable by people into IP addresses which the browser uses to load website pages.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/obambu.com\/guide\/what-is-dns\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What is DNS? - Obambu Guide | Navigating the Web Hosting World\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The DNS is in charge of translating domain names that are readable by people into IP addresses which the browser uses to load website pages.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/obambu.com\/guide\/what-is-dns\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Obambu Guide | Navigating the Web Hosting World\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-08-03T15:40:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-08-03T15:40:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/obambu.com\/guide\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/gc_aoajql2q.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"900\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/obambu.com\/guide\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/obambu.com\/guide\/\",\"name\":\"Obambu Guide | Navigating the Web Hosting World\",\"description\":\"Explore dozens of tutorials and how-to guides on Obambu Guide. 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