Nameserves

Nameserves, or name servers, are servers in the Domain Name System that translate human-readable domain names into network addresses. They can be authoritative servers that hold DNS zone data for specific domains, or recursive resolvers that fetch information on behalf of clients. Together, they enable browsers and applications to locate services on the Internet by name.

The DNS operates hierarchically. When a client asks a recursive resolver to resolve a domain, the resolver may query root servers, which point to top-level domain (TLD) servers, which in turn point to authoritative name servers for the domain. Responses are cached to speed subsequent queries and reduce load on authoritative servers.

Authoritative name servers store records for a zone and answer with definitive data. A domain typically has NS records that designate its authoritative servers. There are two main types of servers: recursive resolvers, which perform lookups for clients; and authoritative servers, which store zone data and respond with actual records.

DNS records come in several forms, including A and AAAA records for IP addresses, CNAME records for aliases, MX records for mail servers, NS records for delegation, and TXT records for arbitrary data. PTR records provide reverse lookup.

Security and privacy considerations include DNSSEC, which adds cryptographic validation to prevent forged responses, and encryption protocols such as DNS over TLS (DoT) and DNS over HTTPS (DoH) to protect queries from eavesdropping. Operational concerns include caching TTLs, redundancy, and monitoring for failures.

Configuration and usage involve setting the desired name servers in a device or network, or using resolvers supplied by an Internet service provider or public DNS services.