It was only a matter of time.

[TerryinMD]

I guess your talking a Domain Name Server (DNS). If you are, each entity assigned a range of IP addresses with a FQDM (Fully Qualified Domain Name) manages their own domain. This is managed locally by a DNS administrator on a server within their domain.

Or are you speaking of registering your Domain Name. If that is the case, that was privatized a few years back. Can't remember who the players are, but you go to them to register your domain against a set of IP addresses.

Terry

 

[looch]

Ethics aside, I am able to put any valid DNS address in my machine to enable browsing. Please don't assume that I know what I'm talking about, but imagine somehow limiting the availability of the DNS service that is being provided to the range of IP addresses that are being served. There would have to be a link between the actual DNS servers in order to allow browsing outside the domain. You could have DNS providers selling services to ISP's who would then more than likely pass on the expense to the user.

 

[TerryinMD]

Paul,

DNS allows a name to be associated to an IP address. IP addresses and domain name registration are handled by different providers. When you register, you basically buy that name or address/set of addresses.

Some mythical network administrator has to configure and maintain these various names and addresses. For a small organization, no problem. For large corporations and ISP providers, it's a nightmare. Multiple DNS servers managed by multiple people.

Now there's some other behind the scenes stuff that goes on that is the real magic (in some circles it's called FM - friggin magic, being nice here /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif). Those names and IP addresses are actually mapped to a physical address on your computer, server, router, switch, or other network device. The physical address is called a MAC address. Part of that MAC address is a pre assigned number which identified the manufacturer of the board, the rest of the number is basically a serial number.

When you attach your device to the network, all of that information is passed along to the internet via something called a gateway. This is typically a router. That router keeps your address and any other address in an area called cache for quick reference. If the router does not know what to do with an address, it send it to the next router (a hop) to find out where to send the data (your stuff). This goes on and on until it finds the destination address. If it can't be resolved (found), you end up getting an error. This can be a false error. The server was down, a latency problem (time it takes for the data to get through), route was broken, etc.

There's a lot more to this, but I hope this short explanation helps. What I've tried to explain is what makes the Internet what it is. A bunch of loosely connected devices which follow set standards to communicate effectively.

You can thank the US Government, particularly DOD, for starting this wonderful service. It has become something that the originators never quite imagined.... /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Terry