Which network server is malfunctioning if a user can ping the IP address of a web server but cannot ping the web server host name?

Answer :

The network server that is malfunctioning when a user cannot ping the web server host name but can ping the IP address is the DNS server. This server is responsible for translating domain names to IP addresses, and without it, host names cannot be resolved.

If a user can ping the IP address of a web server but cannot ping the web server host name, the network server likely to be malfunctioning is the Domain Name System (DNS) server. The DNS server is responsible for translating human-friendly domain names (like 'www.fa cebo ok.com') into their corresponding IP addresses (like '173.252.100.16'). When DNS services are not functioning correctly, a computer can still communicate with another computer using its IP address directly, but the same cannot be done with the domain name. This is because, without the DNS server, the network cannot resolve the host name to its IP address.

In the process of packet-switching, electronic communication is broken into packets that travel through various paths in a network to reach their destination. These packets are designed to be reassembled in the correct order at the receiving endpoint, allowing for accurate data transmission. The DNS server plays a crucial role here, as it provides the necessary IP address information so that packets can be directed to the correct host. In case of DNS failure, while IP communication may still work, host names become unusable since the lookup of their IP addresses fails.