As you know, the Domain Name System (DNS) infrastructure is the soul of pretty much everything on the Internet. There’s no web hosting, e-mail or messaging services, etc., that can exist online without the DNS.
And being that important, yes, the DNS has its Achilles heel: security. Its focus is not there, and that makes it vulnerable. But don’t worry, DNSSEC already exists! A reliable choice to boost security!
DNS Load balancing uses domain settings to distribute client requests around server computers. Any website, email service, or another Internet-based service can be connected to the domain.
You might anticipate receiving a lot of requests if you run a significant and well-known website. It must also respond to queries accurately and quickly, provide up-to-date information, and be quick. Here, the idea of traffic balancing is put into use.
MX record or Mail Exchanger is one of the most essential Domain Name System record types. In this article, we will take a detailed look at its main purpose, how it looks and why it is so beneficial. Let’s start.
DNS records are text instructions. They provide them to the DNS server, allowing it to determine which domain names each IP address belongs to. They’re small and easy to update, and their size varies depending on the query type. We are humans, and we remember domain names, not different and complicated IP addresses. But computers can’t read these domain names. So they must rely on records to comprehend and decipher words. That is, they turn the text file into machine-readable numbers.
MX record is one of the most utilizing DNS records. Its abbreviation stands for Mail Exchange. What does it mean? It contains information for sending email servers, such as the name of the responsible server for accepting emails on behalf of the domain. So it establishes a link between the domain name and the inbound mail server.
For most beginners, the concept behind DNS could seem complex—especially for those without a technical background. However, here are some essential DNS record types that will help you manage your DNS easily.
Probably the A (address) record is the most popular of all DNS record types. The reason for that is simply because its purpose is very specific and also very fundamental. The A record links the hostname to the corresponding IP address (IPv4). That way, people remember just domain names and don’t bother with IP addresses.
The DNS zone is a plain text file containing all of the DNS records for the domain. The DNS, as you may know, is a complicated system that serves as a global database of domain names and IP addresses. As a result, a Domain name system zone is essential for the domain name system to function.
The DNS zone is a minor but essential part of the Domain Name System (DNS) namespace. It’s an operating segment that lets DNS administrators control and regulate their networks. There are likely a lot of DNS zones that use the same DNS server as you. Therefore, it is easier to handle the entire namespace.
Furthermore, the complete Domain Name System (DNS) exists due to these divisions.
If you are a Linux user, you have a great built-in network diagnostic tool – the Dig command. It is a simple software that you can use through the Terminal. It serves various network diagnostics.
Dig command is a DNS utility that is available on Linux. The purpose of the Dig command is to be able to get information about your domain quickly. You can probe different DNS record types, see if the DNS propagation has ended, and check the parameters of a particular DNS record. You can also see which are the name servers that are authoritative for a domain and see if they respond correctly.
Technology is the keystone of modern life. It has made many things easier! It has also accelerated many processes and daily tasks to the point we humans now expect everything to happen at light speed. Today, waiting three seconds can be a reason to abandon a web search or a website because that feels “too long”.
The reality is, massive processes, even with advanced technology involved, still, require much more than milliseconds to be completed accurately. Like DNS propagation!
DNS propagation is the time period that it takes to update DNS modifications across the Internet.
The creation of the Domain Name System (DNS) in the early 1980s was a big achievement. Its design considered a vast functionality, but security was not a priority almost four decades ago. The problem is that criminals knew it, and soon they took advantage of this weak point. Criminals developed different attacks using the DNS, like the dangerous DNS spoofing.
DNS spoofing is a hacking attack. Criminals enter spoofed or forged entries or DNS records into the cache of a recursive server to respond to DNS users’ queries with a spoofed record, for instance, a forged IP address. This way, legit traffic is maliciously directed to dangerous destinations (forged websites). Once there, users can be pushed to type sensitive data (passwords, bank card details, etc.) for criminals to take advantage of later.
We could talk a lot about DNS functionality, however, let’s concentrate at the moment on one major DNS component, the recursive DNS server.
The Recursive DNS server is responsible for searching for data that is required for answering the queries of the users. Recursion in computing is associated with a method for solving a problem. That means a program or solution is going to repeat itself until it reaches the goal.
Fully Qualified Domain Name, or for short FQDN, presents exactly the complete name of a specific domain name. Moreover, that applies to servers too and not only to websites. The Domain Name System (DNS) is built and organized hierarchy. It begins from the top level that is the root, followed by the TLD, a level below is the domain, and finally, the last level is the particular hostname.
The DNS cache is a mechanism for storing the DNS data of previously queried domain names. Different devices, such as DNS recursive servers, mobiles, computers, and tablets, have such cache memory. It has a specific purpose: to reduce the time for resolving a domain name. Thanks to it, the DNS recursive server is not necessary to perform a complete DNS lookup every time a particular domain name is requested.