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< DjVu | Knowledge Base | DOS >

DNS is the Domain Name System, a global co-ordinated, distributed database which maps human-readable domain names to numerical routing codes called IP numbers on the The Internet.

DNS records are used to translate "domain names" such as vistua.com and www.google.com into IP numbers. IP numbers take forms like this 64.152.153.23. This is also why some machines have names. In the context of DNS resolution, the term 'zone' is sometimes used instead of 'domain' as it has a more precise meaning. Each component of a full domain name is a zone in increasing order of specificity, right to left.

The DNS root zone is a single dot (.), rarely explicitly specified outside of engineering contexts. The root zone is administered by ICANN under license from the U.S. Department of Commerce which thus controls the Internet DNS scheme.

Individual persons and organizations then register domains (zones) under a TLD ("Top Level Domain - another zone). Examples of TLDs include .com and .uk. Most countries have a ccTLD, or Country-Code TLD, which is usually assigned based on the ISO Country Code for that nation, for example Switzerland's ccTLD is .ch and the United State's is .us. Many of these ccTLDs allow direct registrations only under "second level" domains such as .co.uk and .com.au.

Domains are provisioned by registering them in the DNS system which is a function normally provided by "registrars", which are commercial entities and charge for this service, although it is usually inexpensive. Vistua's registar is the Canadian company EasyDNS.

ICANN's unique position as sole owner and operator of the DNS root-zone gives them infinite power over the internet, which has caused some considerable worry. The U.S. Government has already forced other Internet bodies such as Verisign to delete from DNS many domains hosting content it does not agree with. Due to ICANN's vulnerability to U.S. Government policy, Washington could theoretically project this power anywhere in the world regardless of national boundaries and laws. In-spite of anxiety about the status of the DNS root zone no one has been able to propose an alternative system that would be better.

Categories: Internet

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