A Practical Introduction to the Domain Name System (DNS)

Dates: This page describes a training program that we had conducted based on a special need (A one time seminar that we had offered, a customized training or something similar). Enrollment has been closed. You may request participation to show your interest. Duration, training content and pricing may differ if we reschedule this training program.

Training fee: Absolutely free of charge

Venue: This training is delivered in a virtual class room (over the Internet). You can join from anywhere in the world. To participate, you should have a computer with the following requirements met.

System requirements:

  1. A broadband connection to the Internet.
  2. A web browser with Flash plugin installed.
  3. The computer should have audio playing capability (For example via speakers or a headset. You need not have microphones).

Description:

The Domain Name System (DNS) is what is responsible for conversion of human readable host names (like www.training.lk) to the associated Internet Protocol (IP) addresses. Hosts connected to the Internet communicate with each other using the IP addresses. In addition, DNS also maintains the email routing details. DNS also has some spam email protection features (via what are known as SPF and DomainKeys).

This training program is a practical introduction to the Domain Name System.

Target Groups:

  1. Website owners, creators and maintainers
  2. System and network administrators
  3. Others interested in learning how the Internet operates

Prerequisites:

  1. General familiarity with the Internet.

Communication Language:

English

Duration:

1.5 hours

Facilitator:

Kamal Wickramanayake (Profile)

Notes:

  1. This training is delivered in a virtual class room (over the Internet).

Training Content:

  1. Host names and IP addresses
  2. The concept of a domain
  3. Domain name registration process
  4. Domain transfer
  5. Hierarchical organization of name server
  6. Primary and secondary DNS servers
  7. Querying a name server
  8. Name resolution mechanism
  9. Reverse resolution mechanism
  10. DNS record caching, refreshing intervals, update propagation delays
  11. DNS record types
  12. Mail routing mechanism
  13. How SPF and DomainKeys work (full details are out of scope)?
  14. DNS zone transfer
  15. Sub domains
  16. Sub domain resolution with delegated servers
  17. Glue records
  18. Configuration of a DNS server (Software: Bind9 for Linux)