The domain name service (DNS) is an Internet service that translates domain names into IP addresses. Since domain names are alphabetic, the corresponding IP addresses are determined by a DNS lookup. The DNS is a network of servers that maps Internet domain names to their numeric IP addresses. Information from all the domain name servers across the Internet are gathered together and housed at the central DNS registry that is then distributed on the Internet.

Figure 1 shows a query of the DNS in the process of a consumer accessing a provider. The consumer initially references the provider by their domain address name, which is resolved to the resource’s IP address.

Figure 1 – An example of a domain name service.

The Internet’s DNS is a security single point of failure if an attacker is able to compromise the DNS.

Related Patterns:

• Cloud Denial-of-Service Protection
• Secure On-Premise Internet Access

This mechanism is covered in CCP Module 7: Fundamental Cloud Security and
in Module 8: Advanced Cloud Security.

For more information regarding the Cloud Certified Professional (CCP) curriculum, visit www.arcitura.com/ccp.

This cloud computing mechanism is also covered in:

Cloud Computing Design Patterns by Thomas Erl, Robert Cope, Amin Naserpour

(ISBN: 9780133858563, Hardcover, ~ 528 pages)

For more information about this book, visit www.arcitura.com/books.