Welcome to the Treehouse Community

Want to collaborate on code errors? Have bugs you need feedback on? Looking for an extra set of eyes on your latest project? Get support with fellow developers, designers, and programmers of all backgrounds and skill levels here with the Treehouse Community! While you're at it, check out some resources Treehouse students have shared here.

Looking to learn something new?

Treehouse offers a seven day free trial for new students. Get access to thousands of hours of content and join thousands of Treehouse students and alumni in the community today.

Start your free trial

Digital Literacy How the Web Works The World Wide Web HTTP and HTTPS

So elaborating on what TJ said. Even Domain name servers have their own IP addresses?

Because Domain name servers use IP addresses to help look up Domain names right?

1 Answer

Logan R
Logan R
22,989 Points

Hey!

So your computer knows by default how to send information to any given IP address (and all servers have an IP). The issue here is that given a domain name (for example "google.com"), there is no way to figure out what the IP address is without asking someone. The purpose of a Domain Name Server is to ask a trusted source what the IP address is for a domain name. By default, your computer has a list of trusted Domain Name Servers and the locations of the servers are kept as IPs.

For example, Google's Domain Name Server IPs are 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4. I contact the server at 8.8.8.8 and ask what the IP address is for the server at "teamtreehouse.com". It replies with the IP address for the TeamTreeHouse server and I proceed to contact that IP address.

Thank you logan!