Name Resolution, or What’s in a Name?

You’ve probably asked yourself in one of the preceding paragraphs, “How does www.co.chatham.ga.us get translated into 167.195.160.9?” Furthermore, why use names at all? People can deal with phone numbers, why not just use the IP number? These are good questions. The answer to the latter is that just because people can deal with a number doesn’t mean that they prefer to use a number. Which would you rather remember, 1-800-NETWORK or 1-800-638-9675? Obviously, most people prefer to remember a name. Actually, names are the better thing to use when networking because numerical addresses can change during a reconfiguration or a move, whereas symbolic names typically stay the same.

Name-to-address translation ...

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