Domain Name System (DNS) makes navigating networked resources much easier. Unless you have a very small network, it's unlikely that you'll remember which IP addresses belong to which machines. DNS helps by mapping names to IP addresses, so you can refer to computers by their hostname and DNS will do the work of translating that back to the IP address.

DNS is one of those things that virtually everyone with a network connected device uses all the time, regardless of whether or not the user realizes it. Computers, servers, smart phones, tablets, smart appliances, and more all utilize DNS. Whenever you look up a service on the Internet, such as a website or a remote resource, DNS translates the name of the resource to the IP address.

Though the idea of DNS and what it does for us may be common knowledge, it's one of those things that are easy to take for granted. DNS is one of those mythical things that works in the background and makes our lives much...