6 Steps to Explain How DNS Works

Surfing is the most common activity of people worldwide. We just type keywords or our favorite websites in URL(Uniform Resource Locator) to find our desirable webpage. However, it’s also interesting to know the processes behind your PC. A process which in tenths of a second pop up the page you look for. Computers and servers don’t detect our alphabetical language. Instead they have a numerical language through which they connect to each other.

Each website, laptop, tablets, mobile phones or anything which connects to the internet has an Internet Protocol(IP) address made up of numbers. We can recognize and remember only alphabetical names of websites which is ineffable to the servers. To bridge this gap, DNS plays a crucial role. It converts human readable domain names into IP addresses detectable to servers, thus acting as a translator. Let’s understand this in 6 simple steps:

1. The Query

The process is initiated by your urge to find a webpage for which you type a domain name (say mydomainname.com). Your browser sends a query on the internet to match your domain name with it’s specific IP address. First server to which your browser contacts is recursive resolver which further extends the process to other servers.

2. The Root Servers

DNS is a stratifies distributed naming system in which root servers are at the top which serve the DNS root zone. They are total 13 in number running throughout the world supported by thousands of servers. Each root server acknowledge the top level domains that’s why recursive resolvers interact with it to gratify your queries.

3. The TLD Name Server

In this hierarchical system, next comes the Top Level Domain(TLD) DNS name server. It stores second level domains under top level domain. After getting a query, it replies with IP address of the domain’s name server which will eventually answer your query.

4. The Domain’s Name Server

Now when recursive resolver knows which servers has the IP address your query is looking for, it contacts the server and gets the answer.

5. Website Appearance

You’re done! Recursive resolver assists your browser with the IP address it just discovered. Then the browser requests the particular website to retrieve its contents, reaching it through the IP address.

6. Response

The process seems to be difficult and time taking. Although it’s not. What do you do to surf? You just need to type the domain name and in a flash your webpage is displayed on your screen. This process doesn’t take even a second. It responds you promptly in tenths of a second.