How does your browser finds a website or a email server?

The Domain Name System (DNS)

JasmineDesign DNS image

The Domain Name System (DNS) is a database system that translates a computer's fully qualified domain name (jasminedesign.com) into an IP address.

So in a more straight forward way, its like a phone book to lookup domain names to web server IP addresses.

Each device connected to the Internet has a unique IP address which other machines use to find the device.

DNS servers eliminate the need for humans to memorize IP addresses.

Once you have a Domain Name - Update the Name Servers

Once you have registered your domain name with a domain registrar.

You want to connect your domain name to your hosting and email.

To do this you need to update the NameServer (NS) records on your domain registrar account under NameServer/DNS.

You will be given two or four Nameserver addresses from your hosting account provider.

These NS records once updated point to where your domain zone file is. A domain zone file is a list of domain recorders for your domain name.

Tying a resource name to an IP address (The IP address tells it what server is providing that service).

Nameserver propagation: Please note that it may take up to 24 hours for a nameserver change to propagate fully.

Type of Domain Recorders

An A record maps a domain name to the IP address (Version 4) of the computer hosting the domain.

CNAME records can be used to alias one name to another. CNAME stands for Canonical Name.

MX stands for Mail eXchange. MX Records tell email delivery agents where they should deliver your email.

A TXT record is a resource record used to provide the ability to associate text with a zone. This record allows domain administrators to insert any text content into DNS records.

An SPF record is a Sender Policy Framework record. It's used to indicate to mail exchanges which hosts are authorized to send mail for a domain.

DKIM stands for DomainKeys Identified Email. It provides a way to validate that an organization delivering an email has the right to do so.

DMARC stands for Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance. It's an email authentication, policy, and reporting protocol that builds upon SPF and DKIM protocols to help email receivers determine if the purported message aligns with what the receiver knows about the sender.

Each domain record also has a TTL The time-to-live in seconds. This is the amount of time the record is allowed to be cached by a resolver.

Plus a lot more types, we might cover more if you want us to.

Secondary DNS Setup. The How and the Why

Coming soon

We are just finishing off this page content at the moment, so please check back soon. Or in the mean time please take a read of our Website Services.

Please feel free to contact us today with any questions you may have or to get started using our services.

Health Check / Website MOT

We offer a website Health Check, an MOT for your website so to say.

Further to the free online self checks you can use we will do a more comprehensive review of your website and provide you with a report on how your site is not just performing but offer steps on how it can be improved. Which you can take back to your current designer or employ our team to carry out any changes or improvements required.

Website Health Check covers the following area's

  • Code Validation
  • Search Engine Performance
  • Page Load Time
  • Links to your site
  • Does your site support mobile users?

To use this service please Contact Us and we will be very happy to help.

If you have a Website need or maybe just a question or two, then get in

Contact with us

and we would be very happy to help.