Domain names work by providing a human-friendly, easy-to-remember address for a website or other network resource, such as an email server. They are used to map domain names (such as www.example.com) to IP addresses (such as 192.0.2.1), which are the unique numerical addresses that computers use to identify and communicate with each other on the internet.
Here's an overview of how domain names work:
Translation: When a user types a domain name into their web browser, the browser sends a request to a DNS (Domain Name System) server to translate the domain name into the corresponding IP address.
Lookup: The DNS server then looks up the IP address associated with the domain name in its database.
Resolution: If the DNS server has the IP address in its cache, it returns the IP address to the browser. If it does not, it sends a request to a root DNS server, which returns the IP address of a top-level domain (TLD) DNS server, such as .com or .org.
TLD server: The TLD server then returns the IP address of the authoritative DNS server for the specific domain name, which is responsible for managing the domain name.
Connection: Once the browser receives the IP address, it uses it to connect to the web server hosting the domain name.
Maintenance: The domain name and its associated IP address are maintained by the domain name registrar, the organization responsible for registering domain names, and the domain name owner.
The process of translating domain names to IP addresses is performed by the DNS system, which is a distributed database that is spread across millions of DNS servers worldwide. This system allows users to access websites and other network resources using domain names instead of IP addresses, making it easier for people to remember and share website addresses.
