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DNS was created because a single shared host-name file could no longer be kept current and distributed efficiently as the Internet grew. Before DNS, computers already used names: a centrally maintained file called HOSTS.TXT mapped host names to numeric addresses. DNS replaced that increasingly difficult arrangement with a hierarchical naming system whose information is maintained across many name servers.
What did computers use before DNS?
Early Internet hosts used HOSTS.TXT, a centrally maintained table that paired host names with network addresses. People could use a name rather than remember a numeric address, and a name could remain useful when an address changed. DNS did not invent the idea of giving computers names; it changed how those names and their associated information were organized and distributed.
In the arrangement described by Paul Mockapetris in the November 1987 RFC 1034, the Network Information Center (NIC) maintained HOSTS.TXT, and hosts retrieved it by FTP. Each copy had to be updated when the central file changed.
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As the number of connected hosts grew, distributing a new complete copy became more costly. RFC 1034 states that “The total network bandwidth consumed in distributing a new version by this scheme is proportional to the square of the number of hosts in the network.” This is the specification’s 1987 description of the HOSTS.TXT distribution model, not a measurement of today’s DNS traffic. The NIC also faced a substantial outgoing FTP load.
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Updates created an administrative bottleneck, too. Organizations could manage names and addresses locally, but changes were not visible across the network until the NIC updated HOSTS.TXT and the revised file was redistributed. Local administrators wanted more control over their own part of the name space, while newer Internet applications needed a more general naming service than a flat host-to-address list.
| Question | HOSTS.TXT | DNS |
|---|---|---|
| Where is information administered? | The NIC maintained one central host file, while local organizations managed their own names and addresses. | Information is organized into a hierarchy and maintained by responsible administrators across name servers. |
| How do changes become available? | Changes depended on the central file being updated and its new version being distributed. | Responsible administrators maintain the relevant data in the distributed system; resolvers can obtain answers or referrals from name servers. |
| How do lookups scale? | Hosts retrieved copies of the complete file, making distribution increasingly costly as the network grew. | Resolvers request particular information; referrals, redundancy and caching avoid repeatedly distributing a complete master list. |
| What do names do? | Names spare users from relying directly on numeric addresses. | Names retain that abstraction while supporting a larger, hierarchical and distributed namespace. |
What did DNS change?
DNS divides the name space into a hierarchy, with dots marking boundaries, and distributes responsibility for the associated data among name servers. The hierarchy can reflect organizational structure, so an organization can administer its part without relying on one operator to edit and send out a universal file.
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RFC 1034 describes its central aim as “a consistent name space which will be used for referring to resources.” A DNS name is not meant to encode the network address or route needed to reach a resource. Keeping the name separate from those details means the underlying address or network arrangement can change without requiring the name itself to change.
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DNS also supports different kinds of information associated with a name, not only a host’s address. That generality made it useful to multiple applications, rather than limiting it to reproducing a single host table.
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How does DNS find an IP address?
A user program asks a local resolver for a particular kind of information associated with a name. The resolver contacts a name server it knows about. That server may return the requested answer or refer the resolver to another server responsible for the relevant part of the name space.
- A program requests information. It asks its local resolver for a record type associated with a domain name—for example, address information.
- The resolver asks a name server. It uses a server it already knows about; the request does not necessarily begin with the root.
- The response supplies an answer or a referral. If the server does not have the requested information, it can direct the resolver toward another server.
- The resolver uses the result. It returns the information to the program and can retain cached data for later requests until that data expires.
Because servers can hold redundant copies, the system can also cope better with failures than a directory that depends on one central machine. RFC 1035 explains that “To the user, the domain tree is a single information space; the resolver is responsible for hiding the distribution of data among name servers from the user.” In practice, caching and the resolver’s existing knowledge can shorten a lookup; not every lookup contacts every level of the hierarchy.
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Why keep names separate from addresses?
Names make network resources easier for people to refer to, but their usefulness goes beyond convenience. RFC 3467, an informational historical analysis published in February 2003, notes that a name could remain stable as connectivity or topology changed. It also describes names associated with multiple addresses for different forms of connectivity.
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That stability is distinct from DNS’s original scaling answer. HOSTS.TXT already let people use names instead of numeric addresses. DNS preserved that benefit while making naming and updates workable across a much larger network.
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When was DNS created?
There is no single creation moment established by these historical sources. RFC 3467 describes DNS as evolving through design and initial implementation, rather than identifying one definitive year in which it was “created.” The enduring core specifications RFC 1034 and RFC 1035 were both published in November 1987. RFC 3467 is a later historical reconstruction, and it notes that some reasons behind the original design were not fully documented.
DNS is not one global phone book
A phone-book analogy can help: imagine a directory divided into branches, where one branch can direct a lookup onward instead of requiring everyone to download and maintain the same complete list. But DNS is a protocol and distributed data system, not a literal book or a central directory staffed by a clerk. Different name servers hold responsibility for different parts of the hierarchy, and resolvers follow answers or referrals as needed.
Also, “domain name” can be used in contexts that have no connection to DNS. In DNS, the term refers to a name within the DNS hierarchy; it does not mean that every use of the phrase refers to a DNS lookup.
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