What is DNS?

The Domain Name System (DNS) is the system that translates Internet domain names into IP numbers. A DNS Server is a server that performs this kind of translation. DNS servers are located at many strategic places on the nets to resolve the routing of e-mail and Internet connections.

There are thirteen major, top-level DNS servers, which are updated daily, and these in turn feed the updated DNS information to smaller subordinate DNS servers, which hold more detailed information on their specific areas of coverage. No single DNS server has all the address information of the Internet, and successful routing may require routing through several levels of servers.