DNS stands for domain name servers. To understand what a DNS server is, you should first know what a domain is. A domain name is like a person’s identity. A website has a name just like a person does. It’s what sets it a part from other computers or websites. A domain name has to be unique, so that a computer, server or web page can be easily recognized among others.

Now you can better grasp what a DNS server really is. A DNS server plays a very important role in the World Wide Web. In fact without DNS server, there is no way you can access the internet. A DNS server is actually the hidden part of the internet. What web users see is just a plain web browser and text box to put the URL address where a domain name is part of. What you don’t know is that DNS servers are working behind to enable you to surf the internet.

Computers can’t actually understand the address you’re typing in your browser. It can only understand numbers. The DNS server does that for you. The numbers that a computer can understand is actually the IP address. An IP address does the same function as a domain name. The only difference is that it is composed of numbers instead of letters. A server, computer or webpage can be identified by a unique set of numbers called IP address. So, when you type the domain name of the website you want to view, the DNS server is the one handling the translation of words into IP addresses. It communicates with other servers to know where to find that IP address and lets you view it after locating it.

You may have encountered “cannot find server or DNS error” or “DNS error or server not found” a few times. That means it cannot connect to the DNS server addresses or address you just entered or it cannot translate the domain name into an available IP address. There are millions of public DNS servers as well as a dynamic DNS server that you can run through software, or free DNS servers offered by many companies. You can search topics about Bellsouth DNS servers, or Comcast DNS servers among reputable companies, or just find a site that offers free DNS server, or DNS server address, or get a domain name server DNS list over the internet. If you have a public DNS server you want to track down, you can also find sites that offer tools to check DNS servers.

Almost anything you want to know, you can find online. So if you need more information about DNS servers, just go online and start searching.