domain name system
(foldoc) | Domain Name System
name service switching
(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.
(http://virtual.office.com/domains.html)}.
(2001-05-14)
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