Domain Name System (DNS)

The Domain Name System (DNS) is a hierarchical distributed naming system for computers, services, or any resource connected to the Internet or a private network. It associates domain names that can be remembered easily by humans (such as google.com) with static numerical IP addresses on a network. The Domain Name System is an essential component of the functionality of most Internet services because it is the Internet’s primary directory service. In order to deploy your web application, you will need to learn the basics of how DNS works, how to register a domain name and/or how to point a domain name at your deployed application. You do not need to understand all the finer points and complexity of DNS, but do need to know how it works and how to configure it when deploying your app.

Goals/Objectives/Outcomes

• Understand the basics of how DNS works in TCP/IP networking and how it is a critical piece of internet infrastructure
• Understand how to register domain names and configure them to point to static IP addresses
• Understand how to use basic unix networking tools to inspect DNS records and do lookups.

Reference Material

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_Name_System
• https://developers.google.com/speed/public-dns/?hl=en
• http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/D/DNS.html
• http://computer.howstuffworks.com/dns.htm

Measures of Success

• Participant can articulate the basic concepts behind DNS and how it works
• Participant has registered a domain name for their project and/or configured a DNS entry for use with a production application
• Participant has demonstrated the ability to inspect domain name records using basic unix tools.