networking (DNS) A general-purpose distributed, replicated, data query service chiefly used on
Internet for translating hostnames into Internet addresses. Also, the style of
hostname used on the Internet, though such a name is properly called a
fully qualified domain name. DNS can be configured to use a sequence of name servers, based on the domains in the name being looked for, until a match is found.
The name resolution client (e.g. Unix's gethostbyname() library function) can be configured to search for host information in the following order: first in the local
hosts file, second in
NIS and third in DNS. This sequencing of Naming Services is sometimes called "name service switching". Under
Solaris is configured in the file /etc/nsswitch.conf.
DNS can be queried interactively using the command
nslookup. It is defined in
STD 13,
RFC 1034,
RFC 1035,
RFC 1591.
BIND is a common DNS server.
Info from Virtual Office, Inc. (https://virtual.office.com/domains.html).
(2001-05-14)