How do domains and hosting work

If you are a beginner, then you may have heard that you need a domain to make a website. However, many beginners confuse domain name with a website or website hosting service. If you are just starting out, then all these different terms may sound too technical.

The goal is to help you understand and choose the right domain name for your website. Domain name is the address of your website that people type in the browser URL bar to visit your website. The Internet is a giant network of computers connected to each other through a global network of cables.

Each computer on this network can communicate with other computers. To identify them, each computer is assigned an IP address. It is a series of numbers that identify a particular computer on the internet. A typical IP address looks like this:. Now an IP address like this is quite difficult to remember. Imagine if you had to use such numbers to visit your favorite websites. For example, wpbeginner. To understand how domain names actually work, we will take a look at what happens when you enter it in your browser.

When you enter a domain name in your web browser, it first sends a request to a global network of servers that form the Domain Name System DNS. These servers then look up for the name servers associated with the domain and forward the request to those name servers. For example, if your website is hosted on Bluehost , then its name server information will be like this:. These name servers are computers managed by your hosting company. Your hosting company will forward your request to the computer where your website is stored.

This computer is called a web server. It has special software installed Apache, Nginx are two popular web server software. The web server now fetches the web page and pieces of information associated with it. A website is made up of files like HTML pages, website builder software , images, and more.

If the domain name is the web address of your website, then web hosting is the home where your website lives. Such computers are called servers and they are offered as a service by hosting companies.

To create your website , you need both domain name and web hosting. You just need to edit your domain name settings and enter the Name Server information provided by your hosting company. Name Server information defines where to send user requests for your domain name. We recommend getting both your domain name and hosting from the same company. This allows you to easily manage them under the same account. For more details, see our guide on the difference between domain name and web hosting.

Domain names are available in many different extensions. The most popular one is. There are many other options like. However we always recommend using. Top level domain or TLD are generic domain extensions that are listed at the highest level in the domain name system. There are hundreds of TLDs, but the most popular ones are. For example,. Country code top-level domain or ccTLD are country specific domain names which end with country code extension like.

Sponsored top-level domain or sTLD is a category of TLDs that has a sponsor representing a specific community served by the domain extension. It is a non-profit organization that creates and implements the policies for domain names. These domain registrars are allowed to make changes to domain names registry on your behalf. Happy to answer them for you. Amrit Ray is the founder of Ray Creations, a web design company based in India. He tries his best balancing both his passions giving adequate time to both.

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It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website. Skip to content. What is the difference between domain name and web hosting? How do you host a website? What is the meaning of domain hosting? How do you host a domain name? What is a host for a website? What is web hosting and how does it work? What is web hosting and why do I need it? If I buy a domain name do I need hosting? Difference between domain name and website name? What is domain name and hosting?

How do you buy a domain? What is a web hosting company? What is domain registration and web hosting? What is Domain Name and Hosting? We will start with the most basic question first.

We will look at what a domain name is. Therefore, it makes sense to have the domain name as similar to your brand as possible. You buy a domain name from any web hosting company.

So, how do you know whether your preferred domain name is available or not? See the results page below. Domain Names Must Be Renewed Before Expiry When you book a domain name, you must choose the duration for which you want to book it for. The minimum duration you can book a domain for is one year. And the maximum period is 10 years. Except buying it back from the original owner at a premium price!

So, what is a Hosting Server? But instead of a real house, it is virtual. All this is done to ensure that the servers are connected to the internet at all times. Shared Hosting : As the name suggests, in this type of hosting, you share the resources with many users simultaneously. Therefore, this type of hosting is comparatively cheaper than all other types of hosting. VPS — Virtual Private Server The server is broken down into several compartments that all act and behave as individual servers.

Dedicated Server Here you have the whole machine to yourself. Since you are not sharing it with anyone, it becomes powerful but expensive. So, what are the measures you can take to protect your domain name? Steps to take to protect your domain name Ensure a strong password A domain name usually has a separate control panel that is provided to you through your Hosting company, when you register your domain through them. So providing the correct information is the first step to truly making the domain yours.

Use the various security features at your disposal There are a few security tools provided to you by your registrar. Enable Privacy Protection It does exactly what it says. Enable Theft Protection The process of a domain transfer starts with a domain transfer request initiated from another control panel.

This effectively adds another layer of security to your domain name. It is a good idea to know and to take the necessary precaution to keep it safe with you. Conclusion In this detailed article, we have seen what a domain name is and how to book it online. This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.

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These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. A domain name is the name of the site that you put in the URL bar.

Think about a house, the address is the place you go to get there. A domain name is just the address to a website. If you want a more technical explanation, the internet is made up of more than a billion websites. Each web page and computer needs to be able to communicate with one another. You might know that your computer and every computer in the world has an IP address.

This is a series of numbers that identifies a computer on the internet. Now, just like computers, websites are identified by IP addresses. Imagine having to enter certain numbers to log in to our Facebook or search Google every time.

Domain names are important because they allow computers the ability to find the server a website is hosted on. The server then sends a signal to your computer, allowing you to access whatever site you type in. This is where a hosting company comes in, which we will talk about in a little bit. The hosting company then allows the name servers to access the data stored by your website.

A website is a place you go to get information or entertainment on the web. We mentioned earlier that a domain name is like the address for your house. Hosting is like the platform your house is on top of. You can imagine as your House space. Here, sqft can be imagined as hosting which provides you the option to host your website files like images, plugins, and content and xyz street can be imagined as the domain name eg mythemeshop. Hosting is the place where everything on your website is actually stored.

If you upload an image to a site, the hosting company is the one that has that image in their system. Most hosting companies have the ability to buy domains and most domain companies have the ability to host your website. These companies have ways for you to edit your domain name to search under a different hosting company and vice versa. Every address ends in the street, drive, avenue, etc. Every domain name has a certain extension that it ends with, and you can probably guess the most popular, which is.

A top-level domain is the generic domain extension that most of us see. There are hundreds of different types of top-level domains, but we really only see. There are others like. A country code top-level domain is a specific domain name that is associated with certain countries. A website in the United Kingdom ends with.

There are over companies that offer these services and some of the larger ones are Network Solutions, Go Daddy, and Register. However, we all know that computers only understand ones and zeros, so everything must eventually be translated into a number. These days, nearly all of the domain registrars offer DNS hosting services.

This is largely dependent upon the technology that will be used in developing your site. Here are two main considerations:.