Brady, newdream operates zulumedia.com's domain name server.
A domain name server is a server that translates between domain names and IP addresses. You make a request saying "what is the IP address for www.zulumedia.com" or "what is the IP address of www.netscape.com" and the domain name server sends back one of those multi-digit IP addresses.
This is done for you behind-the-scene when your web browser (or other Internet software) uses a domain name to access a server. You actually CAN'T access a site by name directly - the name must first be "resolved" into an IP address.
There is a hierarchy of domain name servers. There are 7 (oops, I think this has been expanded) "root" domain name servers that are the ultimate authority for where the DNS for each domain is housed.
When a translation is needed, the request is normally sent to your ISPs DNS, which might have it cached. If it doesn't find it, it might ask a neighboring server, and if nobody close has it, it ultimately gets referred-to one of the roots DNSs. All the root DNS does is hand off the request to the DNS that handles the domain (e.g. the DNS that handles zulumedia.com) and it then resolves the particular request (e.g. www.zulumedia.com or ftp.zulumedia.com or www2.zulumedia.com, etc.)
Most typically, DNSs are run by a company's ISP or web hosting provider. And they typically provide DNS server for dozens or hundreds of domains. But a domain's DNS does not HAVE to be run by that company's ISP or web hosting provider. It could be provided by anybody who has a server on the Internet. If I wanted to, I could run a DNS for one of a thousand domains on my PC. (Since it is connected to the net all the time, a requirement for running a DNS, of course. Of course, @Home would probably have a dim view of my doing this...) All that would be required for somebody to use my DNS would be to fill-out the proper box when registering their domain with the NIC.
Zulu's DNS was previously provided by Frontier GlobalCenter, which was also their web hosting provider. When they didn't pay their bill to Frontier GlobalCenter, they were in a quandry - Frontier shut off both their web site and their DNS. They apparently must have come to some accomodation with Frontier to eventually get their DNS transferred. (It IS common practice NOT to hold a domain name hostage for payment, though it has been done. It's a very controversial practice, and I suspect that Frontier was eventually convinced that it could be bad publicity.) |
