DOMAIN NAME SYSTEM

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 What Is Domain ?
 A domain is a sub tree of the domain name
space.
 Domain may itself be divided into domains
which are sometimes called sub domains.
 It contains resource records.
 Some resource records point to authoritative
server for sub-domains or zones.
 i.e.  google.com.au is a domain.

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 INTRODUCTION

 It is a TCP/IP application service that converts

user - friendly names to IP Address.

 Distributed Directory Service.

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 DNS In Internet
 DNS is a protocol that can be used in
different platforms.

 In the Internet, the Domain Name Space is

divided into three different sections:
 Generic Domain
 Country Domain
 Inverse Domain

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 Root

INVERSE GENERIC COUNTRY

DOMAIN DOMAINS DOMAINS

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 Generic Domain

 The Generic Domains define registered

hosts according to their generic behavior.

 Each node in the tree defines a domain,

which is an index to the domain name
space database.

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 Root Level

co edu int mil net org

m gov

fhd
a

atc

atc.fhda.ed
uIndex To
Addresses
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Generic Domain Labels
com Commercial Organizations

edu Educational Institutions

gov Government Institutions

int International Organizations

mil Military Groups

net Network support Centers

org Nonprofit Organizations

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New Generic Domain Labels
Labels Description
arts Cultural Organizations
firm Business or Firms
info Information service provider
nom Personal nomenclatures
rec Recreation organization
web Web-related organization
store Business offering goods to
purchase

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 The Generic Top Level Domains
( gTLDs )
.COM, .NET, and .ORG
 By far the largest top level domains on the Internet
today is .COM that has approx. 20,000,000 names
 Essentially no restriction on what can be registered

Network Solutions received the contract for the

registry for .COM, .NET, and .ORG
 also a registrar for these TLDs

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 Country Domain
 The Country Domain section follows the same
format as Generic Domain but uses two-
character country abbreviations in place of the
three-character organizational abbreviations at
the first level.
 Second level labels can be organizational,
national designations.
 For example, United States uses state
abbreviations as a subdivision of us.

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 Root Level

ae fr us zw

ca

anza

anza.ca.us
Index To
Addresses
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 ccTLD Organization
How each country top-level domain is organized is up to the
country.

 Some, like Australia’s au, follow the functional definitions.

 com.au, edu.au, etc.

 Others, like Great Britain’s uk and Japan’s jp, divide the domain
functionally but use their own abbreviations.
 ac.uk, co.uk, ne.jp, ad.jp, etc.

 A few, like the United State’s us, are largely geographical.

 co.us, md.us, etc.

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 Inverse Domain
 The Inverse Domain is used to map an
address to name.

 For example, this may happen when a server

has received a request from a client to do a
task. Although the server has a file that
contains a list of authorized clients, only the
IP address of the client is listed.

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M S University Of Baroda
 “.“

Generic Country Code US Legacy

TLDs TLDs TLDs

COM AU GOV
Commercial Australia Governmental
Organizations Organizations

NET IN MIL
Network India Military Organizations
Infrastructure

ORG ... EDU

Other Organizations Educational
Institutions

US
USA

Current TLDs ZW
Zimbabwe

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 What Is A Name Server?
Server responsible for answering DNS queries.
 Exists at all levels of hierarchy.
 Authoritative name servers hold part of the DNS
database.
 One name server can serve more then one zone.
 Many name servers “should” serve the same zone.
 Some name servers are authoritative for certain
zones.

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 Naming a Domain Naming a Directory

Start
Here

Start
Here

yahoo.com.au. C:\windows\system32\drivers\

A “.” is used as A “\” is used as

separator separator

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 Accessing A Webpage

 Suppose, you type http://www.google.com

into your web browser and hit <Enter> key.

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 Step - 1
Your PC sends a resolution request to its
configured DNS Server, typically at your ISP.

Your PC
ISP “Recursive” DNS server

Tell me the Address of

“www.google.com”

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 Step - 2
Your ISPs recursive name server starts by asking one
of the root servers predefined in its “hints” file.
Tell me the Address of
“www.google.com”

ISP “Recursive” DNS server

Root Servers

I don’t know the address but I know who’s

authoritative for the ”com” domain ask
them
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 Step - 3
Your ISP’s recursive name server then asks one
of the “com” name servers as directed.
Tell me the Address of
“www.google.com”

ISP “Recursive” DNS server

“com” DNS servers

I don’t know the address but I know who’s

authoritative for the ”google.com” domain ask
them
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 Step - 4
Your ISP’s recursive name server then asks one of
the “google.com” name servers as directed.
Tell me the Address of
“www.google.com”

ISP “Recursive” DNS server google.com DNS server

The Address of www.google.com is

216.239.53.99
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 Step - 5
ISP DNS server then send the answer back to your
PC. The DNS server will “remember” the answer for a
period of time.

Your PC
ISP “Recursive” DNS server

The Address of www.google.com

is 216.239.53.99

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 Step - 6
Your PC can then make the actual HTTP
request to the web server.

Send me the www.google.com.au

web page

Your PC
www.google.com web server

Here it is!

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 Summary
WEB (HTTP)
Request

“root” DNS servers

google.com.au
Web Server
2
6

1
3
5
Your PC
ISP “Recursive” DNS server “com” DNS servers

4
The actual web
request DNS requests

DNS

google.com DNS server

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 DNS Messages
 There are two types of messages are in DNS.
i. Query Message
ii. Response Message

 Both types have same format.

 The query message consists of a header and

question records.
 The response message consists of a header,
question records, answer records, authoritative
records and additional records.

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M S University Of Baroda
 
Header :-
 Both query and response messages have the
same header format with some fields set to
zero for the query messages.

 Question Section:-
 This is a section consisting of one or more
question records.
 It is present on both query and response
messages.

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  Answer Section:-
 This is a section consisting of one or more resource
records.
 It is present only on response messages.
 It includes the answer from the server to the client.
 Authoritative Section:-
 This is a section consisting of one or more
resource records.
 It is present only on response messages.
 This section gives information (domain name)
about one or more authoritative servers for the
query.
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  Additional Information Section:-
 This is a section consisting of one or more
resource records.
 It is present only on response messages.
 It provides additional information that may
help to the client.
 For example, a server may give the domain
name of an authoritative server to the client in
authoritative section, and include IP address of
the same authoritative server in the additional
information section.

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 Types Of Records
 Two types of records are used in DNS.
i. Question Records
ii. Resource Records

 The Question Records are used in the

question section of the query and response
messages.

 The Resource Records are used in the

answer and additional information sections
of the response message.
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  Question Record:-
 A question record is used by the client to get
information from a server.
 This contains the domain name.
 Resource Record:-
 Each domain name is associated with a
record called the resource record.
 The server database consists of resource
records.
 Resource records are also what is returned
by the server to the client.
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 Sending An E-mail
 DNS is not just used in HTTP protocols (Web
Pages).

 DNS is involved in almost every protocol in use

on the internet.

 Next example is how DNS facilitates the transfer

of electronic mail.

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 Step - 1
Your PC sends the e-mail to its configured outbound
mail server. A DNS request similar to the previous
example is required to find the address of the mail
server.

Your PC
Outbound Mail (SMTP) Server

Please send this message to

“someone@yahoo.com”

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 Step - 2
Your mail server follows the same intensive process
to find the authoritative servers for “yahoo.com”.
Tell me the name servers for
“yahoo.com”

Outbound Mail server

DNS servers

Here are the name servers for

“yahoo.com”
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 Step - 3
Ask the “yahoo.com” name server for the list of
“Mail eXchangers (MX) for that domain.
Tell me the MX’s for “yahoo.com”

Outbound Mail Server example.com DNS server

Yahoo.com DNS
server

The MXs are mx10.yahoo.com

and mx20.yahoo.com
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 Step - 4
Select a Mail server and deliver the mail.
Here is some mail for the
“yahoo.com” domain

Outbound Mail Server example.com Mail server

Yahoo.com Mail
server

Mail accepted for delivery

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 SUMMARY
 DNS is the integral part in most protocols used
on the internet .
 It makes internet human-friendly for all of us.
 It is the world’s largest distributed database
system.
 It fits the international model perfectly.
 In simple terms, it is a mapping between names
and IP addresses.

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