====== Domain Name System (DNS) ======

The //Domain Name System (DNS)// is an important [[Internet]] infrastructure [[application]]. Its purpose is to provide the look up of [[ip_address|IP addresses]] corresponding to the [[host]] name ([[fdqm|fully qualified domain name]]) of a host or service that a client may wish to connect to on the Internet. This is an important usability feature that allows users to use easily memorable host names like www.swan.ac.uk rather than hard-to-remember numerical IP addresses (like 137.44.1.7) that actual network applications use. 

DNS also refers to the globally distributed database of name servers that are used to resolve domain names into IP addresses. In addition to host name address resolution, DNS is also used for e-mail address resolution, virtual web-site hosting, server pooling, load balancing and many other useful services.
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