i'm confused about the definition of gateway and dns. Can someone pls elaborate what a gateway is and dns?
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i'm confused about the definition of gateway and dns. Can someone pls elaborate what a gateway is and dns?
Gateway
hardware or software set-up that translates between two dissimilar protocols, for example America Online has a gateway that translates between its internal, proprietary e-mail format and Internet e-mail format. Another, sloppier meaning of gateway is to describe any mechanism for providing access to another system, e.g. AOL might be called a gateway to the Internet.
DNS
(Domain Name Server) – Used to map names to IP addresses and vice versa. Domain Name Servers maintain central lists of domain name/IP addresses and map the domain names in your Internet requests to other servers on the Internet until the specified web site is found.
Source - Google
To elaborate a bit on Atticus|1's AOHell example...
If you have broadband and you use a residential router (dlink, linksys, etc). The router would also be considered a gateway, because it is how all the PCs on the LAN make it to the internet.
To elaborate a bit on the DNS...
It is very easy to remember to type in www.google.com into your browser when you need to search for something. It is harder for us to remember to type in 216.239.41.104
They will both give you the same result. It is just easier for us humans to remember www.google.com rather than a bunch of numbers. This is especially true if the host is using a dynamic ip address (which is rare outside home networks). It'd be near impossible to find the site, unless you have dns.