Domain Name System
<networking> (DNS) A general-purpose distributed, replicated, data query service chiefly used on
Internet for translating hostnames into Internet addresses.
Also, the style of
hostname used on the Internet, though such a name is properly called a
fully qualified domain name.
DNS can be configured to use a sequence of name servers, based on the domains in the name being looked for, until a match is found.
The name resolution client (e.g. Unix's gethostbyname() library function) can be configured to search for host information in the following order: first in the local /etc/hosts file, second in
NIS and third in DNS.
This sequencing of Naming Services is sometimes called "name service switching".
Under
Solaris is configured in the file /etc/nsswitch.conf.
DNS can be queried interactively using the command
nslookup. It is defined in
STD 13,
RFC 1034,
RFC 1035,
RFC 1591.
BIND is a common DNS server.
Info from Virtual Office, Inc. (http://virtual.office.com/domains.html).
