View source

<seo title="IP and domain name" metakeywords="IP address,domain name" metadescription="IP address and domain name" /><div align=justify>There is a close relationship between your '''domain name''' and your '''web host''' (the computer hosting your website). The domain name redirects the visitors to the '''IP address''' of the computer where the site is hosted. This system is used because it's easier to remember a name rather than an IP address which is a group of 4 numbers, each number between 0 and 255 (e.g. 178.63.79.205). Both domain name and IP address are then recorded by a DNS (Domain Name Server).

Let's take an example and suppose you want to call your friends, the Browns, to invite them over for dinner. You ask your wife to do it, as you cannot do this yourself at the moment. She doesn't know the number by heart so she looks for the number in the phone book and calls them.

Using this example we'll try to explain the way domain names and hosting works. The Browns are the equivalent of the '''domain name'''. You didn't ask your wife to call a phone number; you just asked her to call the Browns. You can reach them by phone because they  have a telephone number associated with their name. The telephone number is equal to the '''IP address''' of the computer the site is hosted on. The phone book stands for the DNS servers. They associate '''domain names''' with '''IP address''', so when you write a website address in your browser, you get the content of the site that is associated to that name and not the content of another site.

When changing the hosting provider, you simply redirect the domain name to another IP and modify the DNS servers for your domain. Also you need to move the files to the new hosting server. It's like the Browns getting a new phone number. The name hasn't changed, but they can be reached by calling a different number.</div>
Return to IP and Domain name.
Retrieved from "http://myidealhost.com/tutorials/IP_and_Domain_name"
Navigation

Search
