Anyone who has a lot to do with the Internet will certainly stumble across some cryptic terms. These include, for example, URL, PPPoE or the DNS server. In the following you will find out what this is all about.
DNS server - what is it actually?
DNS stands for "Domain Name System". Computers and other network devices on the Internet use an IP address. If you now want to access a website on the Internet, the IP address will be requested. The process is similar to dialing a phone number to connect to someone you want to reach. With DNS, you don't have to memorize every numeric combination of IP addresses. Instead, you simply connect to the DNS server, which maintains a huge database and maps website names to IP addresses. The DNS works in a similar way to a telephone book. You know the name of the caller, but not their phone number. The user knows the domain - for example https://www.heise.de/tipps-tricks. This is sent as a request on the Internet,the domain is then converted into the associated IP address by the DNS. For heise.de/tipps-tricks there is, for example, the IPv4 address 193.99.144.85 or the IPv6 address 2a02: 2e0: 3fe: 1001: 7777: 772e: 2: 85. Thanks to DNS, you don't have to remember these complicated sequences of digits..
By the way, there is not just one DNS server. There are a total of thirteen root servers worldwide. It can therefore happen that a DNS server cannot assign an IP address to the requested URL. Then the request is simply passed on to the next server. If none of the servers can answer the input, you will receive an error message in the browser. As a rule, the problem is then with the address entered. Perhaps a typo or twisted number is to blame.