DNS error - what causes them?

[sniffa]

does anyone know what causes a "deniaL of service" error?

[Renew Deal]

1. DNS error is different from a Denial of Service error.

DNS errors are errors in naming. DNS stands for Domain Name Services. That means that the DNS server could be down, DNS records are corrupt or a root server is down or under attack. There are some more sophisticated DNS attacks that can redirect a name, but they are very rare.

DoS attack
Last modified: Monday, October 21, 2002

Short for denial-of-service attack, a type of attack on a network that is designed to bring the network to its knees by flooding it with useless traffic. Many DoS attacks, such as the Ping of Death and Teardrop attacks, exploit limitations in the TCP/IP protocols. For all known DoS attacks, there are software fixes that system administrators can install to limit the damage caused by the attacks. But, like viruses, new DoS attacks are constantly being dreamed up by hackers.

http://webopedia.com/TERM/D/DoS_attack.html

An attack on DNS could be a DoS attack.

[sniffa]

4. wow - that's a mouthfuLL

thank you (and everyone eLse who answered my query) for your input.
frankenweb is down, and that's unusuaL on the weekend - not much traffic on saturdays and sundays. i was curious if one of the peopLe, or competing message boards that we had pissed off had done something.

[niceypoo]

2. DNS is "Domain name server"

Its what resolves your domain name with your IP address. If your setting up a webserver or new domain it takes a day or so for the DNS to start working (unless you set up your own DNS server). I THINK this is what your talking about.

[Liberal Veteran]

3. DNS error is not the same as "denial of service"

Denial of service errors are when a site gets so many hits it basically overwhelms the sites ability to send the page you requested.

DNS errors are when your computer cannot translate a website address into a ip address because (think of it as a phone book....You don't call John Smith, you call 555-1020, same with computers. Instead of calling a www.yahoo.com you call 203.333.43.3. When you type an address into a web browswer, it requests the number from a series of servers. If the web address isn't found, it returns a DNS error).