The Domain Name System (DNS) is a hierarchical decentralized naming system for computers, services, or other resources connected to the Internet or a private network. It translates domain names, which are easy for humans to remember, to the IP addresses that are used by computers to identify each other on the network.
DNS is an essential part of the Internet infrastructure and is used to resolve domain names to IP addresses, allowing users to access websites, send email, and connect to other services using human-friendly names, rather than having to remember IP addresses. DNS is also used to provide other information about domain names, such as the locations of mail servers or other services.
DNS is typically used in hierarchical manner, with a small number of root servers at the top of the hierarchy, followed by top-level domain (TLD) servers, and then authoritative name servers for specific domain names. Each DNS server holds information about a specific subset of the DNS namespace, and when a request is made for a domain name, the DNS system uses a series of queries and responses to determine the correct IP address for that domain.