Each device attached to the internet is assigned an Internet Protocol Address or IP for short. This is a 32 bit number written in 4 segments or octets ranging between 0 and 255. This address works just like your mailing address in that each octet helps a router identify where your information is going and where return information should return to.

Remembering IP Addresses every time you wanted to visit a web page would be impossible, so a naming scheme is used instead. How does your computer get the IP Address of a web site when you type in the name? That's what a Domain Name Servers does.

A Name Server holds information relating the naming scheme to the IP Addresses for a web site. When you register a domain name, a Name Server configures a "zone" for that domain that relates it to an IP address. This is called an "A Record.” An "MX Record" is another example of a zone on a Name Server used to identify the mail server. So when someone sends you an email, for example, their mail server will request the Name Server for you domain and obtain its IP Address before it can send the mail to the mail server.

A Domain Name Server, by comparison, only stores domain names and associated IP Addresses for a period of time in a cache. If a request for an IP Address is made, and the DNS server does not have that address in its cache, the DNS Server will make a request to a set of special servers that hold the addresses for all the Name Servers. From there, it requests the IP Address for the domain name from the Name Server. Once this information is obtained, the DNS can complete the original request, i.e. sending mail.

Understanding the difference between the two is a step in the right direction to understanding how the internet delivery system works.

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