DNS stands for Domain Name Server. These are the servers that match up a fully qualified domain with the proper IP address. This is necessary because computers only understand the IP address for your domain (e.g.- 123.45.678.90).

Here is a simplified view of what happens when someone types www.yourcompany.com into their browser:

Your computer checks it's TCP/IP configuration for it's Domain Name Server address list. It queries that computer's database for the IP address of the fully qualified domain you typed in. If it is not found, you get routed to the root servers in the path of that DNS server. If they don't have the address, you get routed to InterNIC's root servers which match up the second level domain name to the Primary and Secondary DNS servers that hold the Start of Authority record for the domain. That Name Server has the IP address of the Fully Qualified Domain Name. Now the DNS servers send the information backwards to all of the requesting servers so they now know the path, and you don't bounce around so much next time.

A full understanding requires at least one book. A good starting reference is DNS and BIND published by O'Reilly & Associates, Inc.

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