The Domain Name System is a system of mapping names to IP addresses. Because domain names are alphabetic, they're easier for humans to remember. The Internet, however, is really based on IP addresses. Every time you use a domain name, DNS translates the name into the corresponding IP address. It is similar to a phonebook for the Internet.

A DNS (Domain Name Server) stores address and name pairs, so that when you request a website by name it can send you directly to the correct address. If DNS were to fail, you would not be able to find many websites since there is nowhere to look up the address. E-mail would be undeliverable since it has no way of finding its destination.

Primary and Secondry Domain Name Servers

Typically, a single name server will be configured as the primary name server for a domain. For backup purposes, a number of other name servers may be configured as secondary name servers. From the standpoint of DNS, there is no difference between primary and secondary name servers, since the resolving algorithm simply uses a domain's NS records in the order provided. Typically, the primary name server is listed first, followed by the secondaries, but this is not a requirement. In fact, if a group of domains is served by a set of name servers, the ordering of the name servers may be mixed among the domains, to facilitate load balancing.

Domain Registration

Domain registration is the process of selecting, reserving, and paying an annual fee to have a website name that is globally unique and not in use by anyone else.  When you register your domain, such as urbanvelvet.com, you are doing nothing else but reserving the name for your website.

You can have a domain name registered without actually putting a website on the Internet.  This is called "parking a domain name" and is often done to reserve the name while it is still available even if you are not ready to create the actual website.

Domain Transfers

Although everyone refers to it this way, it really should be called "transferring or changing your Web Hosting Provider".  (Transferring your domain name can also mean changing your domain registration company -- a completely different activity unrelated to hosting your web site.)

Changing your Web Hosting Provider requires you to update your domain registration by changing the information in your records for your "primary and secondary name servers".  This information is used to automatically direct visitors for your website to the correct web hosting server.