DNS is kind of a huge topic, and DNS technology touches your life in many ways you probably don’t know every day. Fortunately, most people don't need to know everything about it.
If you have registered a domain name, the main thing is that you might need to use some DNS records in your iwantmyname dashboard to connect your domain to a website or email service.
DNS stands for Domain Name System, which is the technology making it possible for you to type nice, human-friendly words into your address bar like iwantmyname.com instead of computer-readable IP addresses such as 50.56.80.249.
It would be a lot harder to get anything done online if you had to remember a numerical string every time you wanted to update your website, buy something online, or check your email.
iwantmyname.com and 50.56.80.249 are actually the same thing. Try it out for yourself and enter 50.56.80.249 into your browser address bar. It might give you a warning, but should still take you to our homepage.
DNS is simply that — a system that enables computers to translate human-readable letters, numbers, words, or phrases, like those included in a URL, into an IP address.
If you are not clear on what an IP address is, it's similar to a phone number, but for a site on the internet. It tells the potential "caller" where your site is and how to get there, attached to a friendly, memorable name that the DNS records have associated with your site at the IP-numbered address.
For more information, check out our guide: What is DNS? Here's what you need to know.