Everything You Need to Know About DNS

You may have been trying to connect to the Internet and received an error message telling you to check your DNS settings. But what are DNS settings? And what is DNS? The acronym stands for Domain Name System, and in essence, it’s a naming system used to label computers, tablets, gaming systems, or anything else that is connected to the Internet or a private network. Most importantly, it translates domain names to IP addresses, which are numerical codes used to name and determine the location of an Internet-connected device. They make IP addresses easier to identify and memorize for the people who are using them.

Difference Between the Domain Name System and Internet Protocol Addresses

Since it seems like DNS and IP addresses serve a similar purpose, why do we need both? If an Internet user wanted to connect with another Internet user, it would be near impossible to remember the IP addresses associated with all of their contacts and frequented websites, and very annoying to have to type in those lengthy codes every time. On the flip side, it takes a lot less processing power and effort for computer systems to use numbers in order to identify different servers and devices.

The History of the Domain Name System

Shortly after the invention of the Internet, users quickly realized they needed an easier way to navigate the web and remember addresses. The DNS was designed in 1983 at the University of California, Irvine. The original specifications for a DNS dreamt up in 83 are still the standard to this day.

The Structure of Domain Name Systems

According to Wikipedia, “The domain name space consists of a tree of domain names. Each node or lead in the tree has zero or more resource records, which hold information associated with the domain name.” For instance, going to something like “businessname.com” will take you to the homepage of a business, and from there you can branch out in the tree to go to all the other pages, or domains, associated with that website.

The next leaf on the tree may be “businessname.com/products”, which would then branch out to all of the products offered by the business, such as “businessname.com/products/x”. Clicking on a link designed to teach you the specifications of the product would take you to “businessname.com/products/x/specifications”, and the tree would continue to branch in that way. Each of these pages will have a different IP address associated with it, but knowing the domain name in a specific town like Birmingham or Solihull itself would obviously be a much easier way to find the specific information you’re looking for.

Domain Names and Marketing

Since domain names are designed to be remembered easily, you want to pick a good one for your business. Christopher Freville is very good at this. Chris Freville is an Internet marketing expert who makes thousands of dollars a day, and he can tell you about DNS, affiliate marketing and all sorts of other secrets in his books like Automated List Builder and Dominating Niches.