namelookup
Name lookup, or name resolution, is the process by which a system translates a human-readable host name into a numeric network address, enabling connections across networks. It is central to Internet and local-network communication and may involve multiple sources, including the Domain Name System (DNS), the hosts file, and local caches. In software, name lookup can also resolve service names to ports.
The primary mechanism is DNS. A client resolver asks a configured recursive DNS resolver, which traverses the
Name resolution can also include reverse lookups, mapping an IP address back to a domain name via
Security and privacy considerations include DNSSEC, which adds origin authenticity and data integrity to DNS data,
Common tools for diagnosing name lookups include nslookup, dig, and host, as well as system utilities such