Q: How does a domain name work?
A: There are several conditions that are required for the domain name to be properly registered and accessible from the Internet:
  • The domain name has to be assigned to an IP address;
  • The domain name has to be registered with the Name Servers that "know" what IP address this domain name resolves to;
  • The domain name has to be registered with the appropriate Network Information Center (NIC) or Domain Authoritiy that keeps the database record of the domain ownership and the Name Servers that maintain domain's IP record.

When someone requests a connection to a certain domain, DNS servers look-up the corresponding domain names authority for the requested top level domain (Internic for .com, .net, .org, .edu; other authorities for other TLD - top level domains). Internic then responds by telling which Name Servers this domain name is registered with (for the domains that we host it is ns1.UCVHost.net, ns2.UCVHost.net).

The request then goes to the Name Servers per Internic reply and the Name Servers respond with the actual IP address for that domain name. Then the browser establishes a connection with the reported IP address.

It is imperative that the Name Servers listed in the domain record are configured to answer questions about the domain name and resolve the name to various addresses in different contexts. Otherwise, the domain name will not work.

If you set up your account with UCVHost Name Servers, you can control all aspects of your domain names and addresses

Article ID: 101
Keywords: domains DNS