| Most of us know what an IP address is but we don't know what a Domain Name Server or DNS is. Basically, when we talk about a domain name we are talking about the internet protocol address, or IP address. This is the number that is given to a computer whenever it wants to reach a particular website. It consists of seven digits and is usually in the format as 10.3.3.5. This means that the computer that you are using has been assigned this internet protocol address. Whenever you go online, the IP address tells the software on your computer which site you are trying to connect to. Your IP address is actually part of the large group of Identifiers that identifies you and your computer when you are online. The internet protocol address is nothing more than a series of numbers that represent where the data from the internet goes. Whenever you type in a domain name on the browser you are using, the computer receives an internet protocol address. At this point, your web browser connects to the name server and requests information from the server. Once it gets this information, it stores it in its database. This is the log files. If you log into your account from a different location or internet provider, the data you got will not be in the computer's database. What you see is an IP address log that is separate from the name server log. There is also a time log that shows the date and time you accessed the website. In addition to this, there is also a system activity log that tells you when the domain name server was asked for a response, and a read-only log that tells you what is going on with the domain name server itself. IP address log recording is important for two reasons. First, you can determine which of your websites is making you money by reaching certain numbers of visitors. Second, you can use this data to stop certain activities. For example, if you discover that you are getting a lot of request to your website from foreign countries, then you can look up the IP address log that corresponds to that domain name and see who is making these requests. With this information you can block some sites until you find those that are not abusing the privilege of others to reach you. The IP address log also reveals other information, such as the visited websites, and other domain names that are linked to it. Each of these domain names is a link to the host name of the domain name server. That way, when someone types in that domain name into the web browser, his information goes to the host, who forwards it to the DNS servers and other name servers on the internet. This is the natural way of how information travels on the internet. However, there are malicious people out there who abuse this system of linkages. They make a simple request to one of the DNS servers for information about the domain name. They are then able to tell the host what they want to do, such as changing the IP address or putting them on a list that is publicly available. They can also flood the DNS server with ICMP messages and send spam. By monitoring the DNS response headers, you can catch these attacks before they are able to make it through the DNS server gateways and into the world wide web. Knowing this basic information about the IP address log can help you stop attackers before they cause damage to your system. Also, it can save you a lot of money and time because you will know which domains and IP addresses are being abused. In this day and age of computer crime, you cannot afford to be without the latest and most up to date information about possible attacks and threats. That is why you need to have a domain name system (DNS) log so that you can keep an eye on the activities of the people you need to protect your business. A DNS log can tell you what and when someone is trying to get into your web site. |