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Cyber Security Academy · Lesson

DNS: How Domains Resolve to IPs

Trace a DNS lookup from query to answer and understand how DNS can be attacked.

What is DNS?

The Domain Name System (DNS) is the internet's phone book. It translates human-readable domain names like google.com into IP addresses like 142.250.80.46 that computers use to route traffic.

The DNS Resolution Process

When you type a URL, your browser queries DNS:

  1. Check local cache (fast)
  2. Query local resolver (usually your router or ISP)
  3. Resolver queries root nameserver for TLD authority
  4. Query TLD nameserver (e.g., .com) for domain authority
  5. Query authoritative nameserver for the actual record
  6. IP returned and cached

All lessons in this course

  1. IP Addressing and Subnets
  2. TCP vs UDP: When Each Is Used
  3. DNS: How Domains Resolve to IPs
  4. HTTP and HTTPS Basics
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