What is a DNS server?

A DNS (Domain Name System) server is a computer that is responsible for translating domain names (such as www.example.com) into IP addresses. When you type a domain name into your web browser, your computer sends a request to a DNS server asking it to resolve the domain name to an IP address. The DNS server then responds with the IP address of the website, and your computer uses the IP address to establish a connection to the website's server. In this way, DNS servers help to make the internet more user-friendly, because you don't have to remember long strings of numbers (IP addresses) in order to access websites.

DNS servers are an essential part of the internet infrastructure, and they are used by almost all devices that connect to the internet.

DNS servers maintain a database of domain names and their corresponding IP addresses, which allows them to translate domain names into IP addresses quickly and accurately.

There are many DNS servers around the world, and they are organized into a hierarchy. At the top of the hierarchy are the root DNS servers, which are responsible for directing traffic to the appropriate top-level domain (TLD) servers. TLD servers, in turn, are responsible for directing traffic to the appropriate authoritative DNS servers for a particular domain.

When you type a domain name into your web browser, your computer first checks its local DNS cache to see if it has the IP address for the domain stored locally. If it does, it will use the stored IP address to connect to the website. If the IP address is not in the cache, the computer will send a request to the DNS server specified in its network settings. The DNS server will then either resolve the domain name and return the IP address, or it will forward the request to another DNS server if it is not authoritative for the domain.

In addition to translating domain names into IP addresses, DNS servers can also be used to perform other functions, such as blocking access to certain websites or redirecting traffic to different servers based on the location of the client.