# Purpose of DNS

DNS is used to *resolve* human-readable names (google.com) to IP addresses.

Machines such as PCs don't use names, they use addresses (ie. IPv4/IPv6).

Names are much easier for us to use and remember than IP addresses.

When you type 'youtube.com' into a web browser, your device will ask a DNS server for the IP address of youtube.com.

The DNS server(s) your device uses can be manually configured or learned via DHCP.

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* DNS 'A' record - Used to map names to IPv4 addresses.
* DNS 'AAAA' record - Used to map names to IPv6 addresses.

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