{"id":1193,"date":"2016-11-07T08:20:41","date_gmt":"2016-11-07T08:20:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.verbat.com\/?p=1193"},"modified":"2024-05-22T09:18:16","modified_gmt":"2024-05-22T09:18:16","slug":"domain-name-server-significance-verbat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.verbat.com\/blog\/domain-name-server-significance-verbat\/","title":{"rendered":"Explained: Name Servers and their Significance"},"content":{"rendered":"

Name Servers\u2026
\n<\/strong>
\nIt may sound familiar to people who own web hosting accounts. Normally it isn\u2019t something they need to bother about, and web hosts<\/strong><\/a> generally don\u2019t go into detail about name servers either.<\/p>\n

So what\u2019s so special about name servers<\/a> then?<\/p>\n

For starters, it\u2019s because of these name servers that your website appear visible on the web. To be more specific, you need to ask how the browser takes you to a website when you type in the website address.<\/p>\n

All will be explained. But first, let\u2019s get into the basic details.<\/p>\n

Where it all begins<\/h3>\n

It all begins when you buy a domain name for your online business. This name gives you an identity in the digital realm, a home for your website and a path for users who want to visit that website. Your web host can take care of domain name registration<\/strong> <\/a>and name servers allocation.<\/p>\n

Normally, you will be given two name servers referred to as ns1 and ns2, and it doesn\u2019t take too long either.<\/p>\n

For instance, ns1.yourdomain.com and ns2.yourdomain.com<\/em><\/p>\n

The name servers can answer that question we discussed above\u2026 you know\u2026about how the browser takes you to a website.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s just assume the website is yours, in this case. So how does a browser take other visitors to your website? Name servers, of course.<\/p>\n

And how does a Name Server work?<\/h3>\n

Every website on the internet has its own identity. We call it the IP address –\u00a0basically a set of numbers by which the machine recognizes the website. You can remember the IP address of every website you visit\u2026..if you are a genius that is. Normal humans remember a website by its domain name.<\/p>\n

Warning: Memorizing IP addresses can drive you crazy<\/em><\/p>\n

So how does the machine read the IP? That\u2019s where DNS comes in. Standing for Domain Name System, the DNS is basically a phone directory for computers. It converts a domain name to its IP address so that the machine can understand.<\/p>\n

So if your domain name is \u201cwww.thislinkdoesntwork.com\u201d<\/em>, the DNS transforms it to its machine-readable IP form like \u201c21.234.111.52\u201d. The DNS does this by using name servers.<\/p>\n

Starting to get the idea, right?<\/p>\n

So when someone types a domain name in the browser, the name server in the DNS sends the IP of that domain name to the browser. So basically, the name server is a server with DNS software in it.<\/p>\n

However, in modern times, it\u2019s mostly the term for those servers that web hosts own. They use it to manage domain names of their customers.<\/p>\n

To summarize, this is what happens when you visit your website.<\/p>\n