DNS stands for Domain Name System and its primary function is to map domain names to IP addresses. Which statement best describes its role?

• A. It stores domain name resolution records in a centralized database
• B. It translates domain names to IP addresses to enable routing
• C. It encrypts domain name requests using TLS
• D. It restricts access to the domain name database

Answer: (B)

The essential idea is that DNS translates human-friendly domain names into machine-readable IP addresses so network traffic can be routed to the correct destination. When you type a domain like example.com, DNS lookup asks a resolver to find the numeric IP address associated with that name. The lookup travels through a hierarchy of servers—root, top-level domain, and authoritative servers—caching results for speed so future requests are faster. This distributed system effectively maps names to addresses, enabling routers to deliver traffic to the right host.

It’s not a centralized database, which is why the statement about storing resolution records in one place isn’t accurate—the data is spread across many servers worldwide. DNS isn’t primarily about encrypting requests; while secure variants like DNS over TLS exist, encryption is not the core function. And DNS isn’t about restricting access to the domain name database; its purpose is name resolution to support routing.