Patent ID: 7814229

Claim:
A computer system for providing DNS host services, the system comprising: a processor; a memory; a network connection communicatively connecting the computer system to a computer network; and an executable resolution module for resolving resource names into network addresses according to obtained resource criteria; wherein the computer system, in executing the resolution module, is configured to: receive a network request corresponding to a network resource on the computer network, wherein the network request includes a text-descriptive resource name corresponding to the network resource, and wherein the network request further includes information indicating resource criteria and one or more operators, the indicated resource criteria and one or more operators for use by the computer system in resolving the resource name of the network resource to a network address in place of default selection procedures on the computer system for the resolving of the resource name; perform the resolving of the resource name in accordance with the indicated resource criteria and one or more operators in place of the default selection procedures by selecting one of a plurality of network addresses corresponding to the resource name, the performing of the resolving of the resource name including applying the one or more operators to the at least some of the indicated resource criteria to control how the indicated resource criteria are used to select the one network address; and return the selected one network address in response to the received network request.