Our entire modern digital worlds are built on a largely unsung, but critically important technology that turns 40 this year! In 1983, a network engineer by the name of Paul Mockapetris introduced the Domain Name System (DNS), a resilient, scalable technology that allowed the internet to grow from just a few computers to the massive global network it is today.
In the earliest days of the internet, connecting to a website or service that relied on text files (HOSTS.TXT) that contained the hostnames and the IP addresses they corresponded to. This file was manually maintained and distributed to all the computers on the early internet, and changes had to be added by hand every time a new server was brought online.
In this video, Mockapetris talks about how he solved the problem of “creating a distributed phone book” for the early internet.
With Mockapetris’ Domain Name System, the single text file was replaced with a decentralized and distributed database system. DNS distributed the responsibility of resolving domain names with their corresponding IP addresses across a network of servers. Today, every time you type in a URL, DNS servers around the world are there to look up the corresponding IP address to send your request to. You can read more about how the combined power of DNS and anycast make the internet of today fast and reliable.
“I couldn’t know then — in the early days of the Internet — just how vital the DNS would be in our every day interactions, or all of its roles in advancing the Internet user experiences we are seeing today. But the DNS, like all good technologies, was designed to explore new frontiers and not be put to one particular use. Its design was purposely extensible,” Mockapetris reflected in 2013 as DNS turned 30.
Over time, DNS has grown and transformed into a critical technology that underpins our modern, digital life. Today’s DNS not only translates URLs into IP addresses, it provides a range of other records to support email systems, provide domain authentication methods, and more. Because of its flexibility and global adoption, DNS has helped the internet reach a global scale, resolving more than 12,000 registered domain names today.
Technologies like DNSSEC (DNS Security Extensions) are keeping us safe as we conduct much of our lives online. DNSSEC helps verify the authenticity of DNS responses, mitigating the risk of DNS spoofing (intercepting a request and directing it to an unauthorized website) and other malicious activities.
As we celebrate the 40th anniversary of the creation of DNS, it’s important to recognize the resilience, scalability, and adaptability of this technology. Since its inception, DNS has continued to evolve, keeping up with rapid changes in our digital landscape. It has been able to accommodate the internet’s explosive growth while remaining a highly efficient and reliable service.
To dive deeper into how DNS works, you can view our use cases on recursive DNS and authoritative DNS. If you have a DNS service and want to speak with DNS infrastructure experts, schedule a call with NetActuate today.