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From Gregory Go, for About.com

What is DNS?

Thursday July 17, 2008

David Joel / Getty Images

DNS stands for "Domain Name System". It is the phone book of the Internet. DNS maps the human-readable hostname (www.about.com) with the responsible server's IP address (207.241.148.80).

We use this system daily when we surf to websites or send email without knowing the IP address of the Web or mail server.

Related terms: domain name, IP address, domain name registrar, server

Every Thursday, we discuss an online business related term, acronym, or concept. If you find this post helpful, check out the Online Business Glossary or subscribe to our RSS feed or email newsletter!

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