The system that translates a domain name like digitalaspect.io into the numeric server address computers use to find a website.
It works quietly in the background every time someone visits a site or sends an email.
Short and sweet:
The system that translates a domain name like digitalaspect.io into the numeric server address computers use to find a website.
It works quietly in the background every time someone visits a site or sends an email.
See also: Domain, Nameservers
DNS, short for Domain Name System, acts like the internet’s phone book: it looks up a domain name and returns the server address a browser needs to load the site. Every domain has DNS records that tell the internet where to send different kinds of traffic, such as an A record pointing to a website’s hosting server or an MX record routing email to the right mail provider. Marketing teams run into DNS whenever they connect a new tool to a domain, since adding a landing page builder, an email platform, or a tracking subdomain usually means adding or editing a DNS record. Because DNS changes can take anywhere from a few minutes to 48 hours to fully take effect, a delay known as propagation, teams need to plan ahead before a launch or migration rather than making changes at the last minute.
A marketing team connects Mailchimp to their domain by adding the DKIM and SPF records Mailchimp provides, which helps their emails avoid the spam folder.
A company launches a new microsite at promo.digitalaspect.io by pointing a DNS record for that subdomain to their landing page host.
After migrating a website to a new hosting provider, a business updates its DNS records and waits for propagation before removing the old server, so the site doesn’t go offline in between.
