Foundation Topics

Introduction to DNS

Back in the early 1980s, computers on the Internet still used HOSTS files, as described in the introduction, to locate each other. However, around this time, growth on the Internet really took off, and it was quickly evident that this system could not be continued. So, the Internet community came up with a solution of distributing the process of name resolution among a series of servers. And so the DNS system was born in 1984. At the same time, a central clearinghouse for Internet names was established, called the Internet Network Information Center (InterNIC). Today, a large series of name registrars have been accredited with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) (www.icann.org) for registering Internet names. InterNIC still keeps track of names registered by any name registrar and requires that all Internet domains have at least two DNS servers running and containing a database of the domain’s machines.