Name Server

[Couch Potatoe]

A name server translates domain names into IP addresses. This makes it possible for a user to access a website by typing in the domain name instead of the websites actual IP address. For example, when you type in www.microsoft.com, the request gets sent to Microsofts name server which returns the IP address of the Microsoft website.

Each domain name must have at least two name servers listed when the domain is registered. These name servers are commonly named ns1.servername.com and ns2.servername.com, where servername is the name of the server. The first server listed is the primary server, while the second is used as a backup server if the first server is not responding.

Name servers are a fundamental part of the Domain Name System (DNS). They allow websites to use domain names instead of IP addresses, which would be much harder to remember. In order to find out what a certain domain names name servers are, you can use a WHOIS lookup tool.