<HEAD><TITLE>DNS glossary</TITLE>
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<H1>DNS glossary</H1>
<DL>
<A name="authoritative">
<DT><b>Authoritative DNS server</b></DT>
<DD>A DNS server which <i>recursive DNS servers</i> contact in order to
<i>resolve</i> a given <i>DNS node</i> <p></DD>
<A name="dns_node">
<DT><b>DNS node</b></DT>
<DD>A name which DNS usually converts in to an IP, such as www.yahoo.com.
Not all DNS nodes have IPs, however.<p></DD>
<A name="dns_record">
<DT><b>DNS record</b></DT>
<DD>A single piece of DNS data, which can either be data for a DNS node,
or meta-data which DNS uses.<p></DD>
<A name="dns_server">
<DT><b>DNS server</b></DT>
<DD>A program which resolves DNS records<p></DD>
<A name="dns_admin">
<DT><b>DNS server administrator</b></DT>
<DD>A person who manages DNS; setting up DNS servers, changing DNS records,
and what not.<p></DD>
<A name="registry">
<DT><b>Domain registry</b></DT>
<DD>A domain registry is a company that allows one to have their
<i>authoritative DNS servers</i> be contacted by <i>recursive name
servers</i>. <p></DD>
<A name="suffix">
<DT><b>Domain suffix</b></DT>
<DD>The part of the domain which is (usually) after the first dot in a
DNS node. The domain suffix for www.yahoo.com, for example, is yahoo.com.
<p></DD>
<A name="zone">
<DT><b>Domain zone</b></DT>
<DD>A domain zone is a set of one or more DNS nodes. All names in a given
domain zone share the same <i>domain suffix</i>. <p></DD>
<A name="ip">
<DT><b>IP</b></DT>
<DD>A number which a computer connected to the internet has, similar to a
phone number. <p></DD>
<A name="isp">
<DT><b>Internet service provider</b></DT>
<DD>An internet service provider (or ISP) is a company that offers
access to the internet.<p></DD>
<A name="mta">
<DT><b>Mail Transport Agent</b></DT>
<DD>A computer program which accepts incoming SMTP (email) connections,
allowing a server to receive email.<p></DD>
<A name="recursive">
<DT><b>Recursive DNS server</b></DT>
<DD>A recursive DNS server is a DNS server which contacts other DNS
servers to <i>resolve</i> a given <i>DNS node</i>. <p></DD>
<A name="resolve">
<DT><b>To resolve</b></DT>
<DD>To convert a <i>DNS node</i>, such as www.yahoo.com, in
to an IP, such as 10.17.243.32.<p></DD>
<A name="serve">
<DT><b>To serve</b></DT>
<DD>The action of an authoritative DNS server making DNS nodes available
to recursive DNS servers.<p></DD>
<A name="static">
<DT><b>Static IP address</b></DT>
<DD>A static IP address is an IP addresses whose value does not change.
Only some internet service providers offer static IP addresses.<p></DD>
</DL>
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