Network, Computer and Programming Resources

Network - DNS (Domain Naming System)

DNS is the distributed naming service used on the Internet. The DNS can provide a machine's IP address, given domain names for the machine. Various products have been developed to provide DNS, such as the Berkeley Internet Name Domain (BIND). DNS is described in RFCs 1101, 1183, and 1637. The basis for the domains in the DNS may be geographical, such as an entire country, or organizational, such as a common group or activity. The top-level domains represent the most general groupings, and these domain names are standardized. There are currently 7 top-level organizational domains and 59 top-level geographical domains. See the tables "Internet Top-Level Organization Domains" and "Internet Top-Level Geographic Domains" for lists of these domains. An Internet name consists of a userid followed by an at sign (@), which is followed by one or more names separated by dots. The most general of these names refers to domains. Domain names are found at the end of an Internet name. A particular name may include references to one or more domains. The rightmost of these is a top-level domain. The ordering from specific to general in an Internet name is in contrast to the elements in an IP (Internet Protocol) address, in which the first (leftmost) number represents the most general division.