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Glossary - Domain Name System (DNS)

The Domain Name System is an integral part of the internet that is primarily used to resolve hostnames to IP addresses.  When a user types a hostname name like "www.lumbercartel.ca" into their web browser, DNS is used to determine its IP address(es) so that the software can send requests to the correct computer system(s).

Although this creates the illusion to users that they're reaching a web site by name, behind-the-scenes the web browser is actually sending requests to the IP address of the web server after performing a DNS query to "resolve" the web site's internet domain name to one or more of its respective IP addresses.

A hostname may have multiple IP addresses associated with it, in which case the first one is typically used (software could also select one of the IP addresses at random).  For busy web sites, and other internet hosts, configuring multiple IP addresses can be an essential part of distributing the load across multiple computers so that users may enjoy overall faster responsiveness.

See also

• Domain Baron
• eMail address
• Sender Policy Framework (SPF)

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