How does example.com turn into an IP address? DNS, step by step

Computers find each other by number, not by name. Before your browser can load example.com, it has to find the site's IP address, and that's the job of DNS, the internet's phone book.

No single server knows every name. A resolver asks the root servers, then the .com servers, then the domain's own servers, following referrals down the tree. Step through a real-shaped lookup, see why caching makes most lookups nearly instant, and learn how the TTL decides how long an old answer sticks around.