For example, finding the IP address of www.namesurfer.com may require up to three consecutive DNS queries: first to a root name server, then to a server authoritative for the .com domain, and finally to a server authoritative for the .namesurfer.com domain.

Most resolvers are rather primitive ("stub resolvers") and are not able to perform this relatively complicated process by themselves. Instead, the resolver asks a single, nearby name server to perform the lookup on its behalf by sending it a recursive query.

A name server willing to provide the service of performing lookups on the behalf of local resolvers is called a recursive name server. Typically, recursive name servers also perform caching. NameSurfer relies on a separate BIND server to provide recursion and caching services.