DNS & Domain Name System

### The Phonebook of the Internet

Humans remember names (e.g., `google.com`), but computers route traffic using IP addresses (e.g., `142.250.190.46`). The Domain Name System (DNS) bridges this gap.

### The DNS Resolution Flow

When you type a URL into your browser, several steps occur: 1. **Browser/OS Cache:** Checks if the IP is already known. 2. **Resolver (ISP):** Queries the DNS resolver. 3. **Root Server:** Directs the query to the appropriate Top-Level Domain (TLD) server (e.g., `.com`). 4. **TLD Server:** Points to the Authoritative Name Server. 5. **Authoritative Name Server:** Returns the actual IP address for the domain.

DNS is heavily cached at every step to ensure this process is lightning fast.