Understanding your Domain and Web Hosting
Often we get phone calls from business owners who are trying to get a better understanding of how their Websites work and what they are paying for. From this article I hope to help you understand the differences between your Domain Registration and your Web hosting
There are 3 main parts to Domain Names and websites
- Domain Name registration
- Web Hosting (DNS hosting)
- The Website
1. Domain Name – ie. www.insane.net.au
This is like having a business name, in which you pay an annual or bi-annual fee for the continued use of the name. Domain names are registered and renewed through a Domain Registrar.
2. Web Hosting and DNS hosting
In the same way as your business operates from a certain location, or has a PO Box, a Domain Name needs a physical location to operate from. This is usually where you HOST your domain and DNS - for the purposes of running a website and or email services.
DNS, which stands for Domain Name System, is as its name states a naming system for translating IP address into domain names. For example, the domain name www.domainname.com translates to an IP Address 190.10.43.10. Basically DNS makes it easy for you to search your favourite websites because, instead of trying to remember an IP number, you now have to just remember the domain name.
Here is some information to help you understand DNS zones
- Your nameservers‘ job is to find the server and correct the DNS zone in order to get the following information.
- The Arecord points to your domain name or subdomain to an IP address.
- The CNAME record points your domain name or subdomain to another domain name(example: www.domain.com CNAME domain.com)
- The MX recordscontrol where your emails are received.
- The NS records must match the nameservers assigned to the domain name.
3. Website
The physical content (data / files) stored at your Web Host that re displayed when someone visits your website (or domain name - ie www.insane.net.au).
