Draw This - beginner

Draw a flowchart showing how DNS translates a website name (like www.example.com) into an IP address.

10 minutes

Hint 1

Hint 2

Hint 3

Hint 4

Grading Criteria

Start and End symbols present

Process steps clearly labeled

Decision diamond used for checking if IP address is found

Flow direction is clear and logical

Includes sending request to DNS server and returning IP address

Solution

  +-------------------+
  | Start: User types  |
  | website name       |
  +---------+---------+
            |
            v
  +---------+---------+
  | Send request to   |
  | DNS server        |
  +---------+---------+
            |
            v
  +---------+---------+
  | DNS server looks  |
  | up IP address     |
  +---------+---------+
            |
            v
  +---------+---------+
  | IP address found? |
  +----+-------+-----+
       |       |
      Yes     No
       |       |
       v       v
  +----+-------+-----+
  | Return IP address |
  | to user           |
  +----+-------+-----+
       |
       v
  +----+-------+-----+
  | End: User gets   |
  | IP address       |
  +------------------+

This flowchart starts when the user types a website name like www.example.com.

Next, the request is sent to a DNS server, which is like a phone book for the internet.

The DNS server looks up the IP address that matches the website name.

If the IP address is found, it is sent back to the user.

If not found, the DNS server may ask other servers or return an error (not shown here for simplicity).

Finally, the user receives the IP address and can connect to the website.

Variations - 2 Challenges

[intermediate] Draw a flowchart showing how DNS handles a website name that is not in its cache and must query other DNS servers.

[advanced] Draw a detailed flowchart showing the full DNS resolution process including recursive and iterative queries to multiple DNS servers.