This illustration uses desktop computers and servers to show the path of interactions between various DNS servers. The interactions are numbered to correspond with the preceding text.

The interaction begins with a desktop computer labeled "Requesting host, cse.nyu.edu." The initial request is made and labeled as "1," and here is depicted as a blue arrow pointing vertically upwards to a server labeled "Local DNS server, dns.nyu.edu." Interaction 2 is depicted as an arrow pointing diagonally upward and to the right, to a server labeled "Root DNS server." Interaction 3 is depicted as an arrow pointing back to the Local DNS server, dns.nyu.edu. Interaction 4 is depicted as an arrow pointing vertically to the right, towards a server labeled "TLD DNS server." Interaction 5 is depicted as an arrow pointing back to the Local DNS server, dns.nyu.edu. Interaction 6 is depicted as an arrow pointing horizontally down and to the right, to a server labeled "Authoritative DNS server, dns.umass.edu." Beneath this is a desktop computer labeled "gaia.cs.umass.edu." Interaction 7 is depicted as an arrow pointing back to the Local DNS server, dns.nyu.edu." And interaction 8 is depicted as an arrow pointing vertically downward from the Local DNS server to the original Requesting host, cse.nyu.edu.