Describe Some Background Of Domain Name System?

To identify an entity, the internet uses the IP address, which uniquely identifies the connection of a host to the internet. However, the people prefer to use names instead of numeric address. Therefore, we need a system that can map a name to an address or an address to a name. When the internet was small, mapping was done using a host file. The host file had only two columns; one for the name and one for the address. Every host could store the host file on its disk and update it periodically from a master host file.

When a program or a user wanted to map a name to an address, the host consulted the host file and found the mapping. Today, however, it is impossible to have one single host file relate every address to a name, and vice versa. The host file would be too large to store in every host. In addition, it would be impossible to update all the host files in the world every time there is change. One solution would be to store the entire host file in a single computer and allow access to this centralized information to every computer that needs a mapping. But we know that this would create a huge amount of traffic on the internet.

Another solution, the one used today, is to divide this huge amount of information into smaller parts and store each part on a different computer. In this method, the host that needs mapping can contact the closest computer holding the needed information. This method is used by the Domain Name System (DNS).

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