UNIFORM RESOURCE SERVICE and DNS
UNIFORM RESOURCE SERVICE and DNS
UNIFORM RESOURCE SERVICE and DNS
Web browsers are software that allow users to access and display web pages on
their screens.
They interpret HTML sent from websites and display the results.
Web browsers use uniform resource locators (URL) to access websites; these are
represented by a set of four numbers, such as 109.108.158.1.
Addresses like this are hard for users to remember. Instead, it is much easier to type
this into a browser using the following format:
Path The web page (if this is omitted then it is the root directory of the
website)
Example:
http:// www.hoddereducation.co.uk/computerscience
1
DOMAIN NAME SERVICE (DNS)
The domain name service (DNS) (also known as domain name system) gives domain
names for internet hosts and is a system for finding IP addresses of a domain name.
Domain names eliminate the need for a user to memorise IP addresses.
The DNS process involves converting a host name (such as
www.hoddereducation.co.uk) into an IP address the computer can understand (such
as 107.162.140.19).
Often, DNS servers contain a database of URLs with the matching IP addresses.
A Domain Name Server/Service (DNS) is used to translate a domain name into its
corresponding IP address
2
An example of the DNS process
Steps:
1. The user opens their web browser and types in the URL (www.hoddereducation.co.uk)
and the web browser asks the DNS server (1) for the IP address of the website.
2. The DNS server can’t find www.hoddereducation.co.uk in its database or its cache
and sends out a request to DNS server (2).
3. DNS server (2) finds the URL and can map it to 107.162.140.19; the IP address is
sent back to DNS server (1) which now puts the IP address and associated URL into
its cache/database.
4. This IP address is then sent back to the user’s computer.
5. The computer now sets up a communication with the website server and the required
pages are downloaded. The web browser interprets the HTML and displays the
information on the user’s screen.
3
Describe how DNS is used to retrieve a web page from a website
IP address can be used to address server The domain name needs translation
directly before server can be assessed