How Domain Name Server Works?
Given how businesses are slowly but surely transferring to the cloud these days, you can bet it’s high time for enterprises and brands to strengthen their online initiatives to keep abreast of current trends. More than anything, it is Content Delivery Network (CDN) technology that’s helped the digital space keep its shape. In fact, CDNs now run more than 50% of the internet. But how do CDNs work and what are they made of?
For this particular article, we’re going to explore what a Domain Name System is, how DNS server helps a website, and how DNS Caching works.
What is DNS Server?
Consider the Domain Name System (DNS) to be the contact list of the world wide web. Every time you key in domain names such as ‘youtube.com’ or ‘belugacdn.com’ on your browser, DNS is accountable for determining the accurate IP address for whichever site you’d like to access.
Consequently, browsers then utilize the typed domain name to communicate with CDN servers or web host origins to obtain web data. All of these are made possible with the help of a DNS server. As the name implies, DNS servers are machines that are designed to respond to DNS queries.
More thoroughly put, a DNS server is a device that houses hostnames and their corresponding public IP addresses. As with many things in IT, a DNS server runs on software and reaches out to other software and server by speaking customized protocols.
How Domain Name Servers Work
The whole Domain Name System science can be complicated, but to simplify, hostnames (belugaCDN.com, for example) are converted into device-friendly IP addresses, these usually come in the form of numbers and dots in between them. Additionally, the devices that request for website access receive IP addresses only. In other words, a translation happens between what a site visitor keys in onto a browser and the device-friendly IP address.
What are the different types of DNS server?
The number of how many types there are may vary depending on the source, but there are usually three acknowledged DNS server types.
DNS Resolver
Also referred to as a recursive resolver, a DNS resolver is built to obtain DNS queries, which include a user-friendly hostname and is in charge for tracing the IP address of whatever hostname is searched for.
DNS Root Server
Considered as the first step in decoding and loading an IP address, the DNS Root Server takes the Top Level Domain (TLD) from a site visitor’s query (let’s use the same example, belugaCDN.com) and then gives details for the website suffix to the TLD Name Server. As a result, that server provides details for websites with the dot come DNS zone, including belugaCDN.com.
There are more than 10 servers all around the globe, starting with the letters A until M. These are operated by organisations such as Verisign, Internet Systems Consortium, U.S. Army Research Lab, ICANN, and the University of Maryland.
Authoritative DNS Server
Much like an organisation, the DNS also has some form of hiererchy and the higher-tiered servers dictate which DNS server is the authoritative name server for hostnames. Thea authoritative Name Server is the final stop in this journey. It brings the hostname and takes back the correct address to the recursive resolver. If it’s unable to find the domain, an error appears.
Legends of TLD
As mentioned prior, every website has a suffix and this may be referred to as the TLD. For instance, in netflix.com, the dot com refers to the domain name’s last part. There are numerous TLDs, but the most popular ones are .com (for commercial business), .org, (for organisations) .net (for network organisations), .info (for information), .mi (for military) and .eu (for European Union).
Why is DNS security important?
One thing that’s demanded from almost every web traffic is Standard DNS queries. This creates a leeway for DNS exploits like man-in-the-middle attacks and DNS hijacking. These digital strikes can lead astray a site’s inbound traffic and bring them to a false copy of the website before obtaining private user data and exposing enterprises to compromising situations. One of the most sought after solutions for attacks like these is adopting the DNSSEC protocol.
Furthermore, a lot of modern businesses are exposed to several DNS server security risks because they don’t utilize a whole lot of DNS servers. For this reason, this leaves them vulnerable to volumetric threats where huge extents of traffic to a website cause servers to go offline and crash. When this happens, users don’t find their way to the site and only an error appears.
What’s more, these attacks can also exploit a company’s confidential information. Data consisting of usernames, passwords, and other sensitive content can be compromised. We’ve all heard of stories where brands and websites alike have received backlash from not taking enough security measures to protect client data. These are grave issues for any company. If anything, this only goes to show how critical DNS security is to ensuring online protection.
Role of Root Server in DNS
DNS root servers, or simply root servers, are name servers that are accountable for DNS functionality and the general flow of the internet. Because they convert domain names into IP addresses, they’re basically the first line of processing when accessing the digital space. Using DNS zones, the breaking down of domain names to IP addresses works in a categorised fashion. The root zone is what root servers cater to and it’s also the first in the hierarchy.
What Is DNS Cache?
DNS cache involves the temporary information storage of DNS lookups on a web browser or device; this brief storage enables your browser or operating system to immediately retrieve it. Simply put, DNS caching allows a website URL to respond more efficiently. Granted that there are different cache types, their basic function is acceptably the same.
To add, DNS caching isn’t limited only to the browser and OS level. On new DNS lookups, the lookup works its way to the resolver before going through the root and TLD servers, respectively. During each step, data is collected and stored for later use. That being the case, even when the local DNS cache doesn’t have anything, resolvers have access to recorded copies of important information. This makes everything quicker since this eliminates the need to complete the entire DNS lookup process from scratch.
How to Flush DNS Cache
It’s not a secret that every move we make on the internet leaves a mark. Website operators utilize JavaScript applications or cookies to track user behavior. The information collected here is used to accelerate with website and customise web data without users having to reveal every personal detail all the time. Although deleting history and cookies is simple, several internet visitors depend on JavaScript blockers and proxies to protect their digital privacy. Still, not so many people know that an OS also stores data about one’s surfing algorithms.
Overall, knowing what a domain name system is and how DNS caching works gives you a better and clearer perspective on how the internet functions and why a content delivery network comes in handy throughout the entire equation.
Why a cheap CDN could be the best for you
Over are the days when only massive companies could afford complex cloud software. BelugaCDN is a prime example of a provider that makes the CDN technology feasible to every enterprise size. We are an affordable CDN for simple and economical global content delivery. We’re guaranteed to deliver your web data faster on any device and to everyone—and at a fraction of the price of our leading competitors!
Considering how the CDN market has grown to be dynamic and diverse, technologies have improved and premium global coverage is no longer exclusive to pricey CDN services only.
When to know if a website needs CDN
As every day passes, more and more websites sign up with a provider. That’s a solid fact, given how more than half of the entire world wide web is managed by CDNs. But will every site benefit from CDN services?
The whole point of singing up with a provider to start with is to reduce latency and improve web page loading speed. Among many popular CDN benefits, this has got to be first on the list. All things considered, websites that generate a good amount of traffic benefit from CDNs the most.
It’s important to understand that web host origins aren’t built to accommodate hundreds and thousands of site visitors all at once. If a website doesn’t make use of a CDN, all of its users obtain web data from the origin. This isn’t only going to make a website crash, it’s also bound to cause lagging. CDNs bridge this inconvenience because when users request for web page access, they receive a site’s web content from a CDN’s Points of Presence; also known as an Edge server, the server that’s nearest a user.
If your site is also composed of a ton of dynamic media, getting a CDN is a smart choice, too. If you have questions, you’d like to personally ask us, feel free to contact us here.
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