AGHI2 DNS: How DNS Works and Why You Care

A Gentle, Hands-on Introduction to the Domain Name System

We will examine the Domain Name System (DNS). The DNS is much like duct tape. It has a light side and a dark side and it holds the Internet together. This course is targeted at an junior to intermediate level Linux user who has some grasp of networking and the TCP/IP protocols and wants to get a better grasp of how the DNS works. When you finish this class you will have a better idea of how the Domain Name System works, how to understand DNS transactions and some tools to help diagnose what is actually happening inside the internet.

Requirements:

• a laptop with a shell command line and a web browser
• common linux command line utilities
• a few DNS and network tools `host`, 'dig`, `tcpdump`, `tshark`

Some exercises work best if you have two terminal windows onto the same computer. The course is developed using Bash on Ubuntu 16.04. All command lines will be prepared for copy-n-paste from class materials.

This is a first draft course and so it is priced accordingly: $16 or PWYC.