The Internet protocol suite is the set of communications protocols used in the Internet and similar computer networks. According to companies like Fortinet, while the IP suite is the traditional list of technologies used to create, send, receive, and listen to text, voice, and video messages, the DNS suite is a well-known infrastructure for creating, sending, receiving, and identifying objects over networks. Domain Name System (DNS) is an authoritative source of the network addresses of the computers, devices, servers, networks, or other sources of information that use its infrastructure.
DNS is a powerful way to gain information about networks and resources, although it can be a problem for clients that are behind firewall or have bad IP addresses. The Domain Name System is also how most computers talk to one another. When you type a new URL, for example, the computer requesting the URL will send that information back to the server sending it. This is true even if the server is not responding. Most of the time, the server responds but not all the time. DNS is a record of the network addresses of other servers and devices. When you type a URL into your Web browser, DNS converts the URL into a host name that is stored in DNS. When the browser finds that host, it knows where to send the request. If the network is temporarily unavailable, the browser will open a connection to the server that is still responding. If the network becomes available again, DNS returns the host name so that the browser can find the desired resource.
This article will examine both types of DNS. We’ll begin with the traditional Domain Name System and how it works. We’ll then look at how you use the DNS with Windows 2000. And last, we’ll look at how you can register a new domain name and server using a control panel, so that you can use the DNS on a Windows Server 2003 network as your DNS system, and how to use the Windows NT DNS server for a Windows NT 4.0 network.
The Traditional DNS
The traditional DNS uses a hierarchical key to map domain names to IP addresses. The same host names get mapped to domain names and IP addresses, too, until the namespace is complete, called the Primary Domain Name.
When your computer starts up, it accesses the DNS using an adapter or gateway, an external device that makes TCP/IP calls to the DNS. The following figures show how the network progresses through the DNS.
The Computer at the bottom is the client computer, the computer the application is on. (Note that the computer in the middle of the picture is actually the network switch.)
