Cybersecurity

What Does DNS Mean and How Does It Work?

Sumaiya Akter Ria's photo
Sumaiya Akter Ria
·

3 min read

Imagine you’re planning a party, and you’ve invited friends from all over the world. Everyone needs the address of your house, but instead of remembering your exact address, you’ve given them an easy-to-remember name: "PartyAtJohnsHouse.com". Now, your friends need a way to turn that fun, easy name into the actual street address to find your home.

This is where DNS (Domain Name System) comes in.

The DNS Story:

One day, your friend, Alex, is sitting at home and wants to come to your party. They open their laptop and type in "PartyAtJohnsHouse.com" in their browser’s address bar. But Alex doesn’t know your real address off the top of their head—only the domain name.

So, the browser asks a special helper called the DNS to find the address for them.

  1. Step 1: Asking the DNS Resolver The DNS system doesn’t just know one address—it’s a network of computers that help translate domain names (like "PartyAtJohnsHouse.com") into IP addresses (like "192.168.1.1"), which is the actual address used by computers to find each other on the internet. When Alex types the domain name, their computer asks the DNS Resolver to find the correct IP address.

  2. Step 2: Looking Up the Address The DNS Resolver checks if it already knows the IP address. If it does, it sends it straight to Alex’s computer. But if not, it asks other DNS servers until it finds the right one. It starts by asking the Root DNS servers (like a giant map of the internet). Then, it checks with the TLD (Top-Level Domain) DNS servers—which might know where ".com" addresses are located.

  3. Step 3: Finding the Right Party Once the DNS Resolver tracks down the correct information from various sources, it finally finds the IP address of your party—maybe it's something like "123.45.67.89." Now, Alex’s computer knows exactly where to go!

  4. Step 4: Going to the Party With the correct address in hand, Alex’s browser connects to your home (via the IP address) and loads your party’s details on their screen, like the time, date, and even the playlist. Now Alex is ready to join in on the fun!

How DNS Works in Real Life:

In the digital world, this is exactly how DNS works. When you type a website name (like "google.com"), your computer asks DNS servers to find the corresponding IP address. This process happens very quickly, often in just a fraction of a second, and then you can access the website or service you want to visit.

Just like how we use easy-to-remember names for party invitations, DNS helps make the internet more user-friendly by translating complicated numeric IP addresses into simple domain names we can easily remember and use!