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DNS is the method computers use to map IP addresses to domain
names. Computers use IP addresses to locate one another, but they are
not easy for people to commit to memory. Domain names, such as
www.apple.com or train.apple.com, are much easier to remember, but
they need to be translated into the IP addresses that computers use. In
essence and at its most basic level, DNS performs this translation.
A DNS service is also used to cache information, reducing the amount of
traffic necessary to resolve names that are accessed frequently. For exam-
ple, a DNS service running on a Mac OS X Server can cache requests for
other servers it already knows about, returning subsequent requests from
the cache without looking up the information again. The cache has ...