How Domain to IP Conversion Works

If you want, you can think of the internet as a chain of networks, connected to absolutely huge numbers of computers. Every computer or server has a specific numeric address — known as its IP address — that enables other devices to locate it. But it's not practical for humans to memorize those very long numbers. That’s where domain names come in. They offer a name that is easy to remember for a web site.

The DNS is essentially the “phonebook of the internet.” When you enter a domain name in your web browser, your browser doesn’t know where to go. It makes a query to a DNS server, that resolves the domain name to the IP address. It takes the IP address and your browser now has what it needs to connect to the appropriate server to render the website.

This process is dissected into several stages:

Request: You enter a domain name into your browser.

DNS Query: Your computer queries a local DNS resolver (which is usually maintained by your Internet Service Provider).

Recursive Searching: If the local resolver does not have the IP address in its cache, it will conduct a series of queries, first with a root nameserver (.), then a Top-Level Domain (TLD) nameserver (such as.net,.org,.com), and so on. com,. org, etc.) until it discovers the authoritative nameserver for the domain shown.

Response: Your computer gets the correct IP address from the authoritative nameserver.

Connection: Your computer connects to the website server and asks for the web page.

By means of Domain to IP Lookup Tool

This DNS query process can be automated using an online tool called a domain to IP lookup tool. If you're a Linux user, just by typing in a domain, this utility will tell you what IP address is used and many times more.

Here's why you might use one:

Troubleshooting: Check to see if a domain is pointing to the correct server.

Website Move: To verify the updated IP address of a website following a migration.

Network Administration: To test graphically connectivity or other network diagnostic tools.

Security: Determine the location or hosting provider of a website.

Common Questions

Q: Is it possible to point more than one domain to the same IP address?

A: Yes. It's also pretty much standard with shared hosting providers, who do this all the time because they have one server (and therefore only one IP address) that serves more than one website. When you visit such a domain, the webserver uses what is known as "virtual hosting" to look up which website you would like to visit based on the domain name of your request.

Q: Can one domain name have two different IP addresses?

A: Yes. Larger websites, such as Google or Netflix, typically have multiple IP addresses for a single domain. It is done for a number of reasons:

Load Balancing: Spreading incoming requests (like traffic) across a set of servers to reduce the chance that any one server becomes overburdened.

Content Delivery Network (CDN): A group of geographically distributed servers which deliver content from a server closest to the user, thereby enhancing speed and performance.

Q: How is an IPv6 address different from an IPv4 address?

A: IPv4 (Internet Protocol version 4) is the older 32-bit version (e.g., 192.0.2.1 or similar), and has very limited unique addresses. The 128-bit format (for example, 2001:0db8:85a3:0000:0000:8a2e:0370:7334) is known as IPv6 (Internet Protocol version 6) and was introduced to remedy the looming exhaustion of the 32-bit IP addresses, due to the increased demand created from the ever growing number of internet-connected offerings. Most online destinations have a native IPv6 and IPv4 address.