I'm new in this Arena, i just registered...
With reference to this thread
[webmasterworld.com...]
1) It says somewhere that your DN record is controlled by your registrar, ... May i know what the difference is between your DN record and your DNS record?
2) This 2nd question is possible built upon my misunderstanding of the first. Suppose I have a domain name. And my web host provides provides both the DNS server and hosting for me, what role does the registrar now play assuming the webhost and registrar are different entities?
Does the registrar still have my record in its own DNS server which then points to my webhost's DNS server? IF thats the case, wouldn't it be better off not using the webhosts DNS server? Sorry for being long, but my main question is, what role does the registrar play if the webhost provides the DNS and hosting? =p
Thanks!
btw, this forum rocks!
- aDvo -
1. The root servers specify which servers should be contacted for your TLD (e.g., .org, .net, .com, .uk, whatever's at the end). The root servers are owned by ICANN and operated by companies for ICANN.
2. There is a single organization which operates the servers for each TLD (Top Level Domain). For example, NSI operates .com and .net. If you have a .com domain, their servers refer your query to whichever DNS servers you've listed in your domain record.
2a. Registrars are your interface to the database managed by the TLD operator: if you registered a .com domain at Dotster, Dotster informs NSI about the new domain, pays NSI a yearly fee to maintain the domain in NSI's database, and provides you with an interface via which you can manage your domain info, which it then communicates to NSI for storage in the database. However, the registrar is not contacted as part of a DNS lookup.
3. Somebody operates DNS servers for your domain; this is where IP addresses for DNS names and MX records are stored. Frequently, this is your web hosting provider, but you could engage a different company to do your DNS.
4. Once the IP address has been obtained, it is contacted to actually serve the web page (or whatever other service is being requested).
Thus, to summarize, there are several different roles in the DNS process, each can be played by a different organization:
- ICANN controls who manages the TLDs
- Various organizations actually operate the root servers, although ICANN controls their content
- There's a single organization which operates the servers for and controls the content of each TLD
- Each domain has at least two DNS servers associated with it, which can be operated by different organizations
- Registrars are the end-user interface to the contents of the domain record as stored by the TLD administrator
- The DNS servers handle individual requests to map DNS names to IP addresses
- The IP addresses point to machines which can be owned & administered by anyone (you can even have multiple IP addresses mapped to by a single domain name, and each IP address could point to a different server operated by a different organization).
HTH
- Tim
