Overview

As humans, we naturally find it difficult to remember long (seemingly meaningless) strings of numbers to represent host addresses. Thus, alphanumeric names that are more akin to our native language seem a far better alternative. But what form should this naming (or more correctly, high level addressing) scheme take? Should we allow a single level name to be mapped to a single IP Address? And if we did, would this not serve to only give us the same problems as those outlined in Chapter 4 when we discussed the possibilities of a centralized Internet addressing authority?

Clearly, when discussing addressing at all, we need to be able to propose a scheme that provides us with answers not only to our current requirements, but also those of the future. For example, a world-wide, single level, hierarchy would require a single, central, authority to allocate and administer names. A daunting task regardless of the size of administration, that would not even allow the flexibility demanded by the Internet community. In this instance then, a hierarchical naming scheme is required where we are able to delegate the responsibility for name allocation. Equally, since we cannot insist that all sites use names, this system must compliment rather than attempt to replace the IP Address. In addition,we need to be able to map any names used, to the IP addresses understood throughout the Internet community itself.

Within the Internet protocols then, we find a naming convention and resolution system called the Domain Name System