ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Public recursive name servers

Okay, so you know how when you want to visit a website, you type the name of the website into the search bar or address bar, like "google.com" or "facebook.com"? Well, before you can actually visit that website, your computer needs to know the correct address for that website. This is where name servers come in.

Name servers are like phone books. They keep a big list of all the website addresses (called "IP addresses") and their matching website names (like "google.com"). When you type a website name into your computer, your computer asks a name server for the matching IP address so it knows where to find the website.

Now, there are different types of name servers. Some name servers are just for a specific organization or network, like your home or work network. But there are also something called "public recursive name servers". These are name servers that anyone on the internet can use to find website addresses.

Think of these public recursive name servers like a really big phone book that everyone can use. They have information about lots and lots of websites from all over the world. When people search for a website, their computer can ask one of these big public name servers to help them find the right address.

So in summary, public recursive name servers are big online phone books that help people find website addresses from all over the world.