Domain Name System

The Domain Name System or DNS is an arrangement that ensures that all the Internet addresses are unique so that when you search a web page, or send e-mails to a particular Internet address the correct destinations are reached. The domain name system is officially managed by a non profit organization called Internet Corporation For Assigned Names And Numbers or simply ICANN. But in order to understand the exact functions of Domain Name Systems we must first understand the process in which web pages are displayed.

The web page addresses are not something the computer actually understands. The host names or site names as they are popularly called are simply the representative names of IP addresses. The IP address is a series of unique combination of 32 numbers which are officially acknowledged by Internet Corporation For Assigned Names And Numbers or ICANN.

Let us now take an example to understand the whole concept. Suppose you want to open the web page http://www.mapsofworld.com/time-zone-map/world.htm

• The entire phrase underlined is called the URL
• mapsoftheworld.com is the domain name and
• The suffix “.com” is the top level domain or TLD
• The top level domain varies according to the type of host that owns the web site.

Following are the examples of a few TLD for domain name system:

• .com- commercial website
• .org- non profit organizations
• .mil- military organizations
• .in- india
• .ca- canada