Which of the following statements best describes the Domain Name System (DNS)?

• A. DNS maps domain names to IP addresses.
• B. DNS routes packets between networks.
• C. DNS stores website content.
• D. DNS encrypts network traffic.

Answer: (A)

DNS acts as the internet’s phonebook, translating human-friendly domain names into machine-readable IP addresses so computers can find each other on the network. When you type a URL, a DNS resolver asks a series of servers—starting with the root, then the top-level domain, and finally the authoritative name server for the domain—to return the exact address to connect to. That mapping is what lets your browser reach the correct server without you needing to remember a string of numbers. DNS also uses caching to speed up repeated lookups and supports different record types, like A for IPv4 addresses and AAAA for IPv6.

Other statements don’t fit because DNS doesn’t route packets between networks, that’s the job of routers. It doesn’t store website content—that lives on web servers or content delivery networks. And it doesn’t encrypt traffic—encryption happens with protocols like TLS over HTTP.