What Is a Name Server

While we humans use Domain Names to locate a website, computers require IP Addresses to know where to take us on the internet. This is where the use of the Domain Name System (DNS) enters. The DNS is a database that works like a directory for computers: it translates a Domain Name into its corresponding computer-readable IP Address. Without the DNS, we would have to memorise strings of numbers for every website we want to visit.

Name Servers are a vital part of the whole DNS process. They are these specialised servers on the internet that handle queries from your device about the location of a Domain Name and make it function.

Hence, whenever you type a Domain Name into your browser, Name Servers provide the IP address of the Domain to your browser.

Refer to the steps below to know how Name Servers work when you visit a website. In this case, we will use mydomain.com as an example.

1. Your browser uses DNS to look up the Name Servers for mydomain.com.
2. The Name Servers “ns1.sampleserver.com” and “ns2.sampleserver.com” are retrieved.
3. These Name Servers then look up the IP address for mydomain.com.
4. Your browser gets the response: 12.123.123.12 — which is mydomain.com’s corresponding IP Address.
5. Your browser sends a request to 12.123.123.12, including the specific page you are trying to access.
6. The web server hosting your website sends and displays the requested page to your browser.