On the Internet, the database that stores the names and addresses of different hosts is called ________.
- (a)Domain Name Service
- (b)Domain Name System (DNS)
- (c)DNS File System
- (d)None of these
Correct — B, Domain Name System (DNS). DNS is the internet's distributed, hierarchical directory that maps human-readable hostnames (such as www.example.com) to their numeric IP addresses and stores the associated host records — without it, users would have to remember raw IP addresses for every site. The technically correct expansion of the acronym is 'Domain Name System', not 'Domain Name Service'.
- (a)Domain Name Service — A commonly heard but technically imprecise expansion of the acronym — the standard term is 'Domain Name System'.
- (c)DNS File System — Not a real networking term — DNS is a naming/directory system, not a file system.
- (d)None of these — Wrong — option B, Domain Name System (DNS), is exactly the database being described.
DNS (Domain Name System) is the internet's naming database, organised as a distributed hierarchy of servers (root, top-level domain, authoritative). It translates human-friendly domain names into the numeric IP addresses that computers use to route traffic, functioning like a phonebook for the internet.
MPPSC often tests basic internet-terminology definitions where two options look almost identical ('Domain Name Service' vs 'Domain Name System') — the trap is picking the colloquially familiar phrase instead of the technically exact one.
- DNS = Domain Name System (not 'Service')
- Maps human-readable hostnames to numeric IP addresses
- Organised as a distributed, hierarchical directory (root → TLD → authoritative servers)
- Without DNS, users would need to remember raw IP addresses for every website
DNS is the directory/database step that turns a domain name into the IP address a computer actually connects to.
- Confusing 'Domain Name System' with the incorrect but commonly heard 'Domain Name Service'
- Assuming DNS stores web page content rather than just name-to-address mappings
MPPSC tests basic internet vocabulary directly ('what is DNS/what does it store') — lock the exact expansion (System, not Service) and its one job: name-to-IP-address mapping.
No directly related past PYQ was found.
- practice — not a real PYQ
DNS primarily performs which function on the internet?
- (a)Encrypts email messages
- (b)Translates domain names into IP addresses
- (c)Compresses web page images
- (d)Blocks malicious websites
Answer(b) Translates domain names into IP addresses.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The DNS hierarchy begins at which type of server before reaching the authoritative name server?
- (a)Root server
- (b)Proxy server
- (c)Mail server
- (d)File server
Answer(a) Root server — the top of the DNS lookup hierarchy.