B101 Presentation on DNS By Thomas Shaw

What is the function of the DNS? Otherwise known as the Domain Name System It is one of the most important systems to date. It allows domain names easily recognised by humans, such as to be referred to the relevant IP or Internet Protocol address which can be used by the DNS system to bring up the appropriate web page.

Main Reasons for DNS? Humans aren’t good at remembering numbers, especially long ones such as which is the relevant domain name for that IP address is far easier to remember The DNS system saves each computer connected to the internet having huge databases of domain names to relevant IP addresses and allows far easier “hassle free” web browsing because of it.

How large is the Domain Name System Put very simply  HUGE!!! DNS is the largest single integrated database in the World. Every request made by a computer via the internet will go through a DNS server and because of this, the sheer number of people using the DNS at the same time puts the root servers under a lot of strain. To cope with the large amount of requests, highly qualified teams of IT technicians look after the root servers to ensure that they do not fail or crash.

What are the 3 most important components to the DNS? 1) The Name Servers – these store all the IP addresses and Domain names in a huge database that allows translation of domain name to IP address. E.g. by typing in will cause the name server to search in its database or move on to another name servers database until the correct translation to the relevant IP address is found.

What are the 3 most important components to the DNS? 2) A Highly Trained team of qualified Network engineers – these guys make sure that the system does not fail or crash and constantly maintain it as it is vital that the DNS stays operational.

What are the 3 most important components to the DNS? 3) Legal issues – A major problem with the DNS is that domain names such as which we know to be the web address of the well known maker of Ipod and Iphone, could very well be useful to a company that sells apples. Huge independent companies that have rights to sell and give away domain names have found ways to try their best at avoiding problems such as these that have led to huge legal battles that I’ll talk about later…

Legislation Before the month of December 1999, NSI or Network Solutions Incorporated was largely responsible for the registration of second level domain names for the most popular top level domains. These include.COM,.NET and.ORG and since a huge majority of domain names are under these top-level domains especially.com, NSI had the majority of control over how domain names were registered, and how disputes involving these would be resolved. To avoid having to decide between two parties who both desire the same domain name, NSI decided to use a first come, first serve procedure with respect to registering domain names. Because of this, NSI would not need to question an applicant's right to have a particular domain name. Put simply the person who asked for a free domain name got it.

Legislation Now the ability to register.COM,.NET, and.ORG domain names has been spread out among many registrars accredited by The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, more commonly known as ICANN, a non-profit corporation formed to control Internet domain name management and similar functions. NSI still continues to assign domain names, but now they are just one of many domain name registrars. All these registrars still adopt the first come, first serve basis.

Legislation However even when a second level domain name had been registered, Some companies who desire a particular second level domain name can go as far as suing one another.

Cases of legal battles involving domain names. mcdonalds.com: This domain name was taken by an author from Wired magazine who was writing a story on the value of domain names. In his article, the author requested that people contact him at with suggestions of what to do with the domain name. In exchange for returning the domain name to McDonalds, the author convinced the company to make a charitable contribution.McDonalds Referenced from

Cases of legal battles involving domain names. taiwan.com: The mainland China news organization Xinhua was allowed to register the domain name taiwan.com, much to the disgust of the government of Taiwan. Referenced from

What is the most significant limitation to the continued operation of the domain name system? In my opinion the limiting factor has to be the size, everyday more and more people use the internet. Nowadays more and more handheld devices are being use to connect to the internet. This will keep on growing so therefore the DNS will have to increase in size to keep up with the increased usage.

Thank you for listening

References Initial DNS research: Domain Name System -- > How Domain Name Servers Work -- > domain name system (DNS) -- > name-system Further research regarding Legal matters Legal Issues on Domain Name: A World Wide Watch -- > Domain Name Disputes -- > name-systemhttp://lawyer.20m.com/English/articles/domainname.htmhttp://