System and method for saving and reusing recently acquired name to

Abstract

The present invention is a system, method, and computer readable medium for saving and reusing recently acquired Internet addresses. When a client computer receives an Internet address for a particular computer name, the computer name and its corresponding Internet address are saved in a client memory area. Before sending a request to a name server, the client memory is checked to determine if the desired computer name and corresponding Internet address are stored in the client memory. If so, the stored Internet address is used to access the desired machine. If the desired computer name and corresponding Internet address are not stored in the client memory, the requested computer name is sent to the name server for conversion. The name server passes the Internet address back to the client, where it is used to access the machine, and is also stored in the client memory for future use. The client memory area may be configured such that each user has his or her own private memory area where only that user's name/address pairs are stored. In this case, name/address pairs are stored in individual user memory areas, rather than a client memory area. The present invention allows up-to-date Internet addresses to be obtained quickly and efficiently. Further, if a client determines that a name server is unavailable, the client may continue to use stored Internet addresses, and thus access desired computers, even though the name server is off line.