Domain names are site names that provide rememberable names to stand in for numeric IP addresses. Before getting a web site on line you need to have a domain name. These are the familiar web addresses such as yahoo.com that most browsers use to find a particular web site. Domain names, in fact, are pointers to a particular IP address and we use them because they are easier to remember than a series of numbers. The Domain Name System (DNS) is a system that stores information associated with domain names in a distributed database on networks, such as the Internet. The DNS is what makes it possible to attach hard-to-remember IP addresses (such as 193.456.28.8.) to easy-to-remember domain names (such as "web-hosting-guide.org")

All websites have an IP address in the form 193.456.28.8. The domain name system translates these numbers into names such as google.com. All domain names are registered in a central registry maintained by InterNIC, a subsidiary of ICANN - the organization which certifies domain name registrars. Domain names are filtered through Domain Name Servers (DNS) which link IP addresses with domain names. Each web site usually has a primary and a secondary DNS