nameservername

A name server, named after what it does. You give it a name, it tells you where to find it – the phone book, without the paper. It also answers for its own name, which is a bit like looking yourself up in your own phone book.

• namewhat you look up
• serverwhat answers
• namewhat you get back
• nameservernameall three, in one word
• glue recordhow it holds itself up

A name server inside its own domain can’t be found by asking itself first. So the registry keeps its address on file – the glue. Bootstraps, but for DNS.

Look something up