Computers on the Internet rely on a domain name system in order to resolve  the locations and communicate with other computers connected to the Internet. Each computer connected directly to the Internet has an IP address which consists of a series of numbers defined according to a particular format. This IP address is usually associated with a domain name that links to it.

The domain name for an Internet address consists of string of characters ended by a .com, .net or any of the other suffixes which are used when we access these computers via the World Wide Web. The advantages of the domain name system are numerous and one major advantage is that it solves the problem of having to remember the numeric IP addresses which are difficult to recollect. All you have to do is use a domain name as a reference and leave it to the DNS servers to resolve the IP address.

Businesses and home networks usually run their own version of this domain name system on internal networks which are known as Intranets. The domain based system used on such networks allows computers to be identified by names instead of internal IP addresses. The benefits of this kind of use are equally advantageous as well. The  IP address of a computer on the Intranet may change without any need to inform the users because the name of that computer or resource remains the same. With this sort of system the maintenance  and use of the Intranet then becomes a whole lot easier and cheaper at the same time.

In order for a domain based Intranet system to work certain infrastructure is required. Name translation which involves the conversion of hostnames to network addresses can be carried out by services such as WINS  (Windows Internet Service) and NIS (Network Information Service), both which are suitable for administration of Intranet domain infrastructure on Local Area Networks.  This will do for small office networks but for larger office networks which may connect offices across different geographical locations, and involve many computers and resources, the DNS (Domain Name System) is best.

Software vendors such as Windows have different operating systems which are preconfigured with the small business network and domain based systems in  mind. A number of other vendors have such operating systems  which employ domain based systems designed to suit small office networks . When Windows is the operating system of choice, users can be log on to particular domains and have access to certain resources as well as files. It is essentially the same domain based concept with certain differences in  application.