Domain Names, What is it?
If you spend any time on the Internet sending emails or browsing the Web, then you use domain name servers without even realizing it. Domain Name System servers, or DNS Servers, are an incredibly important but completely hidden part of the Internet. The DNS system forms one of the largest and most active distributed databases on the planet.
When you use the Web or send an e-mail message, you use a domain name to do it. For example, the URL "http://www.prolateral.com" contains the domain name prolateral.com.
These are human-readable names and are easy for people to remember, but they are hard for computer networks to use. All machines on the Internet use numerical addresses, called IP addresses, to refer to one another. For example, the machine that humans refer to as "www.prolateral.com" has the IP address 89.106.178.4. Every time you use a domain name, your computer uses the Internet's domain name system (DNS) to translate the human-readable domain name into the machine-usable IP address.
DNS is a distributed system
The DNS Servers are distributed throughout the Internet accepting requests and converting them to IP Addresses all day long.
When a request comes in, the name server can do one of four things with it:
- It can answer the request with an IP address because it already knows the IP address for the domain.
- It can contact another name server (known as acting as a 'forwarder') and try to find the IP address for the name requested. It may have to do this multiple times.
- It can say, "I don't know the IP address for the domain you requested, but here's the IP address for a name server that knows more than I do."
- It can return an error message because the requested domain name is invalid or does not exist.
Creating a new domain
When you want to create a new domain name there are two things you need to do.
- Find a domain registry agent like Prolateral and register your new domain name
- Find a name server for the domain records to live on. Prolateral offers primary DNS services (Master DNS) included in your domain purchase.
You can then manage the records for your domain by defining the human readable names for the IP Addresses of the physical machines that you are using, such as a webserver and mail server.
Note: Just because you purchase a domain with one company doesn’t automatically mean you have to host your website and email with them as well. In many cases your hosting company only provides a limited subset of DNS functions - Prolateral support the full features of all DNS records. You also don't have to purchase a new domain or transfer your existing domain to Prolateral in order to use the Master DNS or Backup DNS services.
Already have a domain?
You may have already purchased a domain but the current company you are using doesn’t offer you the full control you need. If that’s the case then you can switch the management of your domain to Prolateral. Note that this needn't involve the transfer of your domain - all you need do is to point your Name-server records (glue records) at Prolateral's DNS servers.
Maybe you are happy with your current hosting company but you are looking for a backup service or additional name servers to host your domain for fault tolerance and business continuity. If that’s the case then Prolateral's Secondary DNS Hosting (also known as Backup DNS) is ideal for you. With DNS servers located in the UK, Europe and USA we run a distributed and reliable domain name solution and service.