Domain Name System facts for kids
The Domain Name System (DNS) is like the internet's phone book. It helps your computer find websites by changing easy-to-remember names, like `example.com`, into special numbers called IP addresses. Computers need these numbers to connect to each other. So, when you type a website name into your browser, DNS finds its unique IP address so your computer knows where to go.
The rules for how DNS works are written in special technical documents. These documents help make sure all computers use the same system to find websites.
How Website Names Are Built
Website names, also called domain names, are made of different parts separated by dots. For example, in `www.example.com`, each part is called a 'label'.
- The part on the far right is the top-level domain (TLD). For `www.example.com`, the TLD is `com`. Other common TLDs are `org` or `net`.
- The part just before the TLD is the main name, like `example` in `example.com`. This is often the name of the company or organization.
- The part on the far left, like `www`, is a subdomain. `www` often means the site is part of the World Wide Web.
- Each part of a domain name can have up to 63 letters or numbers. The full domain name cannot be longer than 253 characters.
How Your Computer Finds a Website
Let's imagine your computer, called PC1, wants to connect to a website hosted on Server1. Here's how DNS helps:
- PC1 first sends a special request to a DNS server. This request asks for the IP address of Server1.
- The DNS server then looks up the name Server1 in its records.
- The DNS server sends a reply back to PC1. This reply contains the IP address that belongs to Server1.
- Now that PC1 has the IP address, it can send information directly to Server1 and load the website.
Images for kids
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A robot thinking about connections.
