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What happens when you type in a domain name in the browser?

Have you ever wondered what happens when you type the domain name of a website into the address bar of your web browser and hit “Enter”? Although it may seem like magic, there are actually a number of steps that go on behind the scenes to bring the website to your screen.

Step 1: Check the Cache

First, the web browser checks its cache to see if the domain name is stored there. If it is, the browser retrieves the web page from the cache and displays it to the user. If the domain name is not in the cache, the browser proceeds to the next step.

Step 2: Resolve the Domain Name to an IP Address

Next, the browser sends a request to a Domain Name System (DNS) server to resolve the domain name into an IP address. The DNS server is a database that assigns IP addresses to domain names. So it looks up the domain name in its database and returns the corresponding IP address to the browser.

Step 3: Retrieve the Webpage from the Web Server

Once the DNS server has resolved the domain name into an IP address, the browser sends a request to the web server at that IP address asking it to send the web page associated with the domain name.

Step 4: Display the Webpage

The web server receives the request and sends the web page back to the browser. The browser then receives the web page and displays it to the user.

Conclusion

This process is fast, so the user usually does not notice any delay. However, if the DNS server takes a long time to resolve the domain name, or if the web server responds slowly, this can cause a delay in loading the website.

So, when you type a domain name in the address bar of your web browser, the browser first checks its cache and then sends a request to a DNS server to resolve the domain name to an IP address. Finally, it sends a request to the web server with that IP address to retrieve the web page. This process happens behind the scenes and allows us to easily access the vast amount of information available on the Internet.


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