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Domain Name Service (DNS)

DNS is a distributed database that translates hostnames to IP addresses. It allows users to enter hostnames that are easier to remember than IP addresses. When a user enters a hostname, the application passes it to DNS which returns the corresponding IP address. DNS works hierarchically, with root servers directing queries to the appropriate DNS servers which then return the IP address to the client. DNS caching improves speed and efficiency by storing mappings locally so they don't have to be looked up from remote servers each time.

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Nitish Gundherva
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33 views9 pages

Domain Name Service (DNS)

DNS is a distributed database that translates hostnames to IP addresses. It allows users to enter hostnames that are easier to remember than IP addresses. When a user enters a hostname, the application passes it to DNS which returns the corresponding IP address. DNS works hierarchically, with root servers directing queries to the appropriate DNS servers which then return the IP address to the client. DNS caching improves speed and efficiency by storing mappings locally so they don't have to be looked up from remote servers each time.

Uploaded by

Nitish Gundherva
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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DOMAIN NAME

SERVICE
(DNS)

WHAT IS DNS?
DNS is a host name to IP address
translation service
DNS is
a distributed database implemented in a hierarchy of
name servers
an application level protocol for message exchange
between clients and servers

WHY DNS?
It is easier to remember a host name than it is
to remember an IP address.
An name has more meaning to a user than a 4
byte number.
Applications such as FTP, HTTP, email, etc., all
require the user to input a destination.
The user generally enters a host name.
The application takes the host name supplied
by the user and forwards it to DNS for
translation to an IP address.
3

HOW DOES IT WORK?


DNS works by exchanging messages
between client and server machines.
A client application will pass the
destination host name to the DNS
process (in Unix referred to as the
gethostbyname() routine) to get the IP
address.
The application then sits and waits for
the response to return.
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DISTRIBUTED, HIERARCHICAL
DATABASE
Root DNS Servers

com DNS servers


yahoo.com

amazon.com

DNS servers DNS servers

org DNS servers

edu DNS servers

pbs.org

poly.edu

umass.edu

DNS servers

DNS serversDNS servers

Client wants IP for www.amazon.com; 1st approx:


client queries a root server to find com DNS server
client queries com DNS server to get amazon.com
DNS server
client queries amazon.com DNS server to get IP
address for www.amazon.com
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TLD AND AUTHORITATIVE


SERVERS

Top-level domain (TLD) servers:

responsible for com, org, net, edu, etc, and all


top-level country domains uk, fr, ca, jp.
Network Solutions maintains servers for com TLD
Educause for edu TLD

Authoritative DNS servers:


organizations DNS servers, providing
authoritative hostname to IP mappings for
organizations servers (e.g., Web, mail).
can be maintained by organization or service
provider
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DNS: CACHING AND UPDATING


RECORDS

once (any) name server learns


mapping, it caches mapping

cache entries timeout (disappear) after some time


TLD servers typically cached in local name servers
Thus root name servers not often visited

update/notify mechanisms under


design by IETF
RFC 2136
http://www.ietf.org/html.charters/dnsindcharter.html
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OPERATION OF DNS
DNS uses caching to increase the
speed with which it does the
translation.
The DNS data is stored in the database
in the form of resource records (RR).
The RRs are directly inserted in the
DNS messages.
The RRs are a 4 tuple that consist of:
{name, value, type, TTL}.
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RRS

TTL: time to live, used to indicate when an


RR can be removed from the DNS cache.
Type =
A - then NAME is a hostname and Value its IP
address
NS - then NAME is a domain name and Value is
the IP address of an authoritative name server
CNAME - then NAME is an alias for a host and
Value is the canonical name for the host
MX - then NAME is an alias for an email host
and Value is the the canonical name for the
email server
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