TinkerInes has typed larkspur.example.40 km · 0 trips to the shop
Chapter 1 of 7
A name to a number
Ines in Millbrook opens Larkspur’s shop for the first time. Her browser knows the name, larkspur.example, but not where the shop is.
This chapter: How does a browser turn a name into an address?
About this chapter
You will learn
- DNS finds a name’s address, office by office
- Each office points to the next: a referral
- Every office asked is a round trip
Words you’ll meet
- IP address
- The number that says where a computer is on the internet, like 203.0.113.10.
- DNS
- The Domain Name System: the internet’s directory, which turns names into IP addresses.
- Resolver
- The helper near you that asks DNS on your browser’s behalf and keeps the answers.
- Referral
- An office’s reply that it doesn’t know the answer, but knows which office does.
Step 1 of 5
Ines types larkspur.example. Her browser needs the shop’s . Her looks it up in , office by office.
Ask the root.