DNS

In brief

The internet directory. You type in a website’s name, and the DNS translates it into an address that computers can understand. Without it, you know the name but you can’t find the door.

▶ Precise definition

Domain Name System: a system that translates human-readable domain names (e.g. example.fr) into IP addresses. A hierarchical and distributed service in which certain components (root servers, top-level domain registries, resolvers) constitute critical dependencies and control points that are rarely monitored.