The Domain Name System encapsulates a lot of complex interactions and protocols which allow it to provide the functionality described in my Concept Map. Further obfuscating things is the myriad of relevant TLAs (Three Letter Acronyms) which amount to a carpet under which a significant amount of information is hidden. With my differentiating questions, I’ll attempt to dig a bit deeper into these aspects.
Novice vs. Competent Question
1. The job of the Domain Name System is to:
a. check that the URL text you’ve typed in is a legitimate name
b. provide the unique numerical address that corresponds to the URL you typed into your browser
c. allow third parties to track the websites you want to look at
d. all of the above
Competent vs. Expert Question
2. How does your ISP’s Domain Name Server know how to find the a Root DNS?
a. every DNS server has to know the IP addresses of a subset of the 13 Root Servers when set up
b. a DNS server watches traffic on the Internet and figures out how to find the Root Servers
c. the DNS server asks another DNS server which asks another, which eventually leads back to a Root Server
d. the ISP decides has its own Root Server