Domain Name System

Internet standard. A hierarchical system of software and systems that translate a fully qualified domain name into an IP address. RFC 1034 defines domains and the Domain Name System (DNS).

Computers determine their place on the internet using IP addresses. To remember these numeric or hexadecimal sequences can be difficult. DNS provides the structure to map human-readable online branding to a computer-readable IP address.

This allows web users to type www.example.com instead of 198.51.100.0 in their browser. It also lets them write an email to alex@example.com instead of alex@203.0.113.6.