DNS Resolver

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What Does DNS Resolver Mean?

A Domain Name System (DNS) resolver, more commonly referred to as a “DNS lookup” tool, resolves an individual host name to an IP address. This type of resolve command helps to figure out how Web services are hosted, how a domain name is supported and how various hardware devices correspond to particular servers and vendors or to their client companies.

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Techopedia Explains DNS Resolver

In some ways, a DNS resolver eliminates a level of abstraction by rendering the IP address of the domain name supplied. Domain names are pieces of Internet real estate that can be hosted from anywhere. They are markers for a Web project that has a specific location, but the domain name does not itself specify that location. The IP address provides much more information on where the hardware is that is operating the Web project and who has ownership or control of the particular Web space. That is why tools like DNS resolvers are important in Internet research and in making the Internet more transparent for users. For example, a user may look up or “resolve” a DNS that has a particular brand name to see whether that site is held by the company that trademarked the brand or not. This kind of transparency can also help users avoid certain types of Internet fraud or scams, and help make e-commerce more accessible to a wider audience.

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Margaret Rouse
Technology expert
Margaret Rouse
Technology expert

Margaret is an award-winning writer and educator known for her ability to explain complex technical topics to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles in the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret’s idea of ​​a fun day is to help IT and business professionals to learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.