During a DNS lookup, which component returns the IP address to the client after resolution?

• A. The web browser
• B. The DNS resolver
• C. The firewall
• D. The DHCP server

Answer: (B)

Understanding how DNS resolution works shows why the DNS resolver is the one that returns the IP address. When a client needs to reach a domain, it asks its configured DNS resolver to resolve that name. The resolver performs the lookup—possibly querying root servers, top-level domain servers, and authoritative name servers, and it may cache the result for future requests. Once the IP address is found, the resolver sends it back to the client in the DNS response, and the client can then connect to that IP. The browser merely uses the IP once it’s provided, not during the resolution process. The firewall doesn’t supply DNS answers, and the DHCP server only provides network configuration (and can point the client to which DNS server to use), not the actual resolution results. So the component that returns the IP address after resolution is the DNS resolver.