what is the history of dns development?

Since the mid-1980s, Domain Name System (DNS) has been an integral part of the Internet and its development since then has been an essential feature for many years. Put simply, DNS is a protocol that helps navigate the Internet by translating domain names into their corresponding IP addresses.

In 1983, DARPA (the United States Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) developed a military communication protocol which did not rely on IP addresses to move data, but rather on email addresses. This laid some of the groundwork for future DNS development. In 1984, Paul Mockapteris of SRI International formed the first version – he called it the "Domain Name System" after his domain name SRI-NIC – and since then many people have worked to make it what it is today: reliable, secure and user-friendly.

The first widespread use of DNS was in 1987 when Jon Postel published a memorandum instructing users to use DNS and included some basic information about how it worked. Postel based his work on Mockapteris' original system but made several substantial improvements, such as introducing zone files which allowed administrators to store records centrally in text files instead of at each individual host. During this same time period, ARPAnet began using NSFNET – Network Services File NETwork – which allowed users to access resources more efficiently by using established standardized names and locations for those resources rather than IP addresses.

DNS continued to develop into an even more powerful tool throughout the late 1980s and 1990s with new advancements such as reverse DNS lookups which allowed administrators to find where a host or domain was located based on its IP address, and in 1995 the IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) standardised these improvements with RFC 1035 which further defined how DNS should operate. This document still serves as the basis for all modern day DNS implementations.

By 1999, surfing the web had become much easier due solely to DNS developments. This same year witnessed yet another milestone – ICANN's introduction of name servers providing better delegation control over domains giving administrators better control over their subdomains; something that was previously only available through complex IP route referrals back in 1989.

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