How DNS, IP and network works

I am not 100% sure if this is how the Internet works, but this is how I have understood it.

You want to connect for example www.vr.fi and type that address to your browser because you remember "oh it was www.vr.fi" you don't know the server real IP address which is like a telephone number. We prefer to remember names not numbers. And it is easier yes.

1. Your computer then asks from the closest DNS server where is vr.fi located ? It is like a huge telephone directory.

2. If your closest DNS doesn't know where that address is really located, it asks from the next DNS server. And this continues as long as someone knows where www.vr.fi is located!

3. Then DNS finally gets the information from some DNS server and sends the real address to the user computer. "You know, www.vr.fi is located in this address: 188.117.35.8"

4. Your computer connects to the address given and your browser will load the vr.fi site from vr server.

You can also test this yourself!

Open up terminal window in Linux or Windows (CMD) and type:

ping www.vr.fi

It will give you a reply from the address 188.117.35.8 if the server is found.

Type that address to your browser and tada, it will load the site.