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GLOSSARY

What is DNS?

DEFINITION

DNS is the internet's phone book. Computers find each other by numeric addresses, but people remember names, so DNS translates a name like yourcompany.com into the address of the server that holds your site.

It also tells the world where your email should be delivered. Your DNS settings live in a set of records at whichever company controls your domain's nameservers, and that is often not the same company as your registrar or your host. Changing a record changes where traffic or email goes, so a wrong edit can take a site or mailbox offline. Why it matters: Almost every launch, migration and email problem comes down to a DNS record, so knowing who manages yours saves days of confusion.

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