The Domain Name Service is also know as name server. It translates IP addresses to system names and system names to IP addresses.
The DNS is responsible for translating
nickel.sao.nrc.cawhich humans understand, to the address
132.246.10.3which routers (the equipment responsible to route the packets through the network) and computers understand.
NRC's main name server (and thus, DNS) in Ottawa is
nrcnet0.nrc.ca