Domain Name System

Internet standard. A hierarchical system of software and systems that translate a fully qualified domain name into an IP address. RFC 1034 defines domains and the [Domain Name System (DNS)][dns].

Computers determine their place on the internet using IP addresses. To remember these numeric or hexadecimal sequences can be difficult. DNS provides the structure to map human-readable online branding to a computer-readable IP address.

This allows web users to type www.example.com instead of 198.51.100.0 in their browser. It also lets them write an email to alex@example.com instead of alex@203.0.113.6.