1-2 
Figure 1-1 Dynamic domain name resolution 
 
 
Figure 1-1 shows the relationship between user program, DNS client, and DNS server. 
The resolver and cache comprise the DNS client. The user program and DNS client run on the same 
device, while the DNS server and the DNS client usually run on different devices. 
Dynamic domain name resolution allows the DNS client to store latest mappings between name and IP 
address in the dynamic domain name cache of the DNS client. There is no need to send a request to the 
DNS server for a repeated query request next time. The aged mappings are removed from the cache 
after some time, and latest entries are required from the DNS server. The DNS server decides how long 
a mapping is valid, and the DNS client gets the information from DNS messages. 
DNS suffixes 
The DNS client normally holds a list of suffixes which can be defined by users. It is used when the name 
to be resolved is not complete. The resolver can supply the missing part (automatic domain name 
addition). For example, a user can configure com as the suffix for aabbcc.com. The user only needs to 
type aabbcc to get the IP address of aabbcc.com. The resolver can add the suffix and delimiter before 
passing the name to the DNS server. 
z  If there is no dot in the domain name, such as aabbcc, the resolver will consider this as a host name 
and add a DNS suffix before processing. The original name such as aabbcc is used if all DNS 
lookups fail. 
z  If there is a dot in the domain name, such as www.aabbcc or aabbcc., it indicates that no DNS 
suffix needs to be added and the resolver will use this domain name to do DNS lookup first. If the 
lookup fails, the resolver adds a DNS suffix for another lookup. 
Configuring Domain Name Resolution 
Configuring Static Domain Name Resolution 
Table 1-1 Configure static domain name resolution 
Operation  Command  Remarks 
Enter system view 
system-view 
—
 
Configure a mapping between 
a host name and an IP address 
ip host hostname ip-address 
Required 
No IP address is assigned to a 
host name by default.