Namensauflösungskonvention

Namensauflösung, often abbreviated as DNS, is a hierarchical and decentralized naming system for computers, services, or any resource connected to the Internet or a private network. It serves as the phonebook of the Internet, translating human-readable domain names (like www.example.com) into machine-readable IP addresses (like 192.0.2.1). Without DNS, users would have to remember long strings of numbers to access websites, which would be impractical.

The process of name resolution involves a series of steps. When a user types a domain name into a web browser, their computer sends a query to a DNS resolver. This resolver, typically provided by an Internet Service Provider (ISP), then contacts a root name server to find the authoritative name server for the top-level domain (TLD), such as .com or .org. The TLD server then directs the resolver to the name server responsible for the specific domain. Finally, that authoritative name server returns the IP address associated with the requested domain name back to the resolver, which then passes it to the user's computer, allowing the browser to establish a connection with the web server.

DNS is fundamental to the functioning of the internet. It ensures that users can easily access online resources by using memorable names instead of complex IP addresses. Various types of DNS records exist to store different kinds of information, including A records for IPv4 addresses, AAAA records for IPv6 addresses, MX records for mail servers, and CNAME records for aliases. The distributed nature of DNS makes it resilient and scalable, allowing it to handle a massive number of requests worldwide.