What does the acronym "DNS" stand for in networking?

2025

What does the acronym "DNS" stand for in networking?

  1. A.

    Domain Name System

  2. B.

    Digital Network Service

  3. C.

    Dynamic Network System

  4. D.

    Data Network Security

Attempted by 53 students.

Show answer & explanation

Correct answer: A

Answer: Domain Name System

Explanation: DNS translates human-readable domain names (for example, www.example.com) into IP addresses (for example, 93.184.216.34) so devices and services on the Internet can locate each other.

  • What it does: Provides a distributed, hierarchical directory that maps domain names to IP addresses and other records.

  • How a lookup works (brief): A resolver queries name servers which may return cached answers or forward queries until an authoritative answer is found.

  • Common record types: A (IPv4 address), AAAA (IPv6 address), CNAME (alias), MX (mail exchange), and TXT (text data).

  • Security note: DNS by itself maps names to addresses; security extensions such as DNSSEC add integrity and authenticity checks to DNS responses.

Explore the full course: Iisc Administrative Assistant 2026