This way, if the underlying IP address changes, connectivity can still be established. Different record types are used for different purposes. This can be used to provide both redundancy and load balancing. Instead, DNS is organized into smaller books or domains. Instead, DNS operates in a distributed fashion, with millions of servers around the world working together.
An authoritative name server is where administrators manage server names and IP addresses for their domains. The basic concepts behind DNS are relatively straightforward, but over the years the technical side of things has grown increasingly complex. A DNS query can be one of the following:. In a recursive DNS query, a DNS client will reach out to a server, which will in turn make upstream requests for the domain in question until a result is found.
The only set rule for a recursive query is that a result must be returned, if there is one. There can be a single or dozens of recursions. The initial server or even the local DNS client may have a result already cached. A time-to-live TTL value governs how long one of these results can be cached; once the TTL has been reached, the client or server will need to look upstream for the results.
The requester will continue this iterative process until it finds an answer or times out. As stated already, DNS is a distributed system, meaning that servers all over the world work together to maintain and deliver DNS records. Different types of servers have different roles within the overall system:. Sometimes called a recursive resolver, a DNS recursor receives queries from DNS clients, responds if a hit is available in cache, or reaches out to a nameserver further up the chain.
Recursors are often run by Internet Service Providers, but its easy to change the DNS configuration of a computer to point to another source for performance, security, or privacy reasons. As the name implies, root servers are the foundation from which the entire DNS infrastructure grows.
TLD Name Servers are second in importance only to the root servers, as they know where to turn for answers about any domain within a given TLD. When you search for www. The authoritative name server is the final stop for a DNS query. This server, or often servers for the sake of redundancy, is the highest authority for a given domain. Not all DNS queries make it up to the authoritative nameserver, however, as there may be cached results closer to the initial request. Organizations also frequently use DNS internally.
Some of the advantages of the system include:. The developers of DNS always intended for the protocol to be extensible as technology progressed. Easy, right? Earlier, we referred to DNS as the phone book of the Internet. But a more specific analogy would be that:. You also might use the DNS records supplied by your nameservers in other ways, like setting up your email account with MX records or verifying your domain name with Google Search Console.
If you wanted to, you could leave your nameservers at your domain registrar and just edit the DNS records to point your domain name towards your web hosting. The most popular example here is Cloudflare. To help you point your domain towards Kinsta, we have tutorials for how to edit the nameservers and A records at popular domain registrars:. For example, Whois. Nameservers play an essential role in directing traffic on the Internet by helping to connect your domain name with the IP address of your web server.
All of that and much more, in one plan with no long-term contracts, assisted migrations, and a day-money-back-guarantee. Your current host could be costing you time and money — get them back with Kinsta.
Learn more. Private name servers are best for resellers who may want to mask their hosting partner or switch to a different web host without forcing a name server update across their client pool.
The primary name server does the heavy lifting most of the time, while the secondary is there in case the primary one fails. Jacob Roach is a writer and technology enthusiast. He specializes in computing and small business software, lending his experience to sites like Digital Trends, Business Insider, and Cloudwards.
You can follow him on Twitter ManowarElves. Adam Hardy is a former assistant editor at Forbes Advisor, where he covered small business and tech. Previously, he was a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder, specializing in the gig economy and entrepreneurship. Finance and other publications. Select Region. United States. United Kingdom. Jacob Roach, Adam Hardy. Contributor, Editor. Editorial Note: Forbes Advisor may earn a commission on sales made from partner links on this page, but that doesn't affect our editors' opinions or evaluations.
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