What is DNS?
DNS translates domain names into IP addresses — the internet’s phone book. Learn how it works and run a DNS lookup free.
DNS (Domain Name System) is what turns a human-friendly name like eveses.com into the IP address a computer needs to connect. It is the internet’s directory: you type a name, DNS returns the address.
How a lookup works
When you request a domain, your resolver walks a hierarchy: root servers point to the top-level domain (.com), which points to the domain’s authoritative nameservers, which return the actual record. Results are cached along the way (governed by each record’s TTL) so repeat lookups are fast.
Record types
An A record maps a name to an IPv4 address; AAAA to IPv6. CNAME aliases one name to another. MX records route email. TXT records hold arbitrary text used for verification and policies like SPF and DKIM. A DNS lookup tool shows all of these for a domain.
Why lookups help debugging
Checking DNS from outside your network tells you what the world resolves for a domain — useful when a site is unreachable, a new record has not propagated, or email is bouncing.
Try it now — free, no signup
Use the DNS lookup in your browser. Then, when you need it at scale with an API key and higher limits, grab the full Eveses API.