ARPA (Advanced Research Projects Agency) was launched by the US government in 1957, soon after the first sputnik was launched by the Soviet Union. The USA decided to create this think tank to explore information technology issues and one of the first tasks was to create first wide-area network connection effectively functioning in any circumstances.

The revolutionary idea of packet switching was a radical shift from the prevailing then analog circuits mode land was about establishing digital systems that break messages into individual packets transmitted independently and then assembled back into the original message at the end of the receiver. The new conception of network based on this model was suggested by John Licklider who led ARPA in 1963. In 1969 ARPANET was created. After its first commercial version ARPANET Telnet and local network Ethernet appeared in 1974, the rapid development of the Internet began.

All the computers connected to the ARPANET used IP protocols and had files of the type /etc/hosts/ that contained IP addresses of other computers of the network. The file /etc/hosts was updated each time a new computer appeared in the network. At the beginning of 1977 the number of such computers was equal to 100 and each computer had the IP addresses of other 99 computers.

TCP/IP protocol suites were released by ARPA in 1982. In these protocols the messages were divided into packets that were delivered by different routes. The number of hosts grew fast. IP database updates took a lot of place and this traffic could block communication lines. There was one more issue – finding unique code for each new computer was more and more difficult. This is when Domain Name System appeared.

It’s important to understand that Domain Name System didn’t abolish IP addresses, rather it became a very convenient additional service used by the end-users to locate resources on the Internet. The Domain Name System provides basis for converting the names of machines into IP addresses and back again and provides pointers for other resources such as mail handlers and mail aliases.

A domain name is a way to identify and locate computers and resources connected to the Internet.
Each domain name corresponds to numeric IP (Internet Protocol) addresses. An IP address takes the form of 4 numbers, each one between 0 and 255, separated by periods.
Now, if you have a domain name and you bought hosting services to host your site, what should you do for the Internet-users to get to your site?
When you buy a domain name for example yourdomain.com, you should point your hosts’ name servers
ns1.yourhostnameserver.com
ns2.yourhostnameserver.com
And from the side of the hosting you should specify your domain name in your account. This is how they meet and allow end-users visit your site using convenient domain name system.

Alex has been working for web hosting company, which offer website hosting services