g the IP address, browser contacts the site Web Server 7 Site sends info requested Figure 8.18 How DNS servers work Internet Addressing and Address Resolution Your Web browser goes to a local name server, maintained either by your ISP, your online service provider, or your company. If the IP address is a local one-that is, if it's on the same network as the one you are on-then the name server will be able to resolve that URL with the IP address right away. In this case, the name server sends the true IP address to your computer, and because your Web browser now has the real address of the place you're trying to locate, it contacts that site, and the site sends the information you have requested. If the local name server determines that the domain you have requested is not on the local network, it must get the information from a name server on the Inter- net. The local name server contacts 1 of the 13 root domain servers, each of which contains a list of the TLD name servers managed by ICANN. All 13 root servers contain the same vital information to spread the workload and back each other up. They contain the IP addresses of all the TLD registries, and they address both the global registries, such as .com and .org, and the 250 country-specific registries, such as .fr (for France). The root domain server tells the local server which TLD name server contains the domain specified in the URL. Scattered across the Internet are thousands of computers-called domain name resolvers or just resolvers-that routinely download and copy the information con- tained in the root servers. These resolvers are located strategically with ISPs or institutional networks. They are used to respond to a user's request to resolve a domain name (i.e., to find the corresponding IP address). TLD registry organizations house online databases that contain information about the domain names in that TLD. The .org registry database, for example, con- tains the IP address of the primary DNS server for the domain icann.org. In trying to find the Inte