A DNS or Domain Name Server is what allows us to type in names instead of IP addresses to get to Web servers, use Telnet, FTP, etc. For instance, when you type "telnet darkwing.uoregon.edu" your machine queries the UO DNS server at 128.223.32.35 and asks for the IP address of darkwing.uoregon.edu. It then uses this IP address to connect to the machine