From Domain Name via DNS to Hosting and Your Website
Domain Names: The Name for Your Online Presence
A domain name serves as the unique identifier for a website, much like a phone number or a physical address for business. It provides a (hopefully) easy-to-remember name that users can type into their web browsers to access a particular website. For example, “www.example.com” is a domain name.
You can only purchase a domain name at a Registrar like GoDaddy, NameCheap, Cloudflare etc. Since it is an essential part of your business, you should always have access to your registrar account and safeguard that information.
Many registrars like GoDaddy, NameCheap, Cloudflare etc. allow you to give limited access to e.g. your I.T. person or web developer. Also, the email on the registration should be an address that never expires.
DNS: A Phone Book for the Internet
Any domain name is connected to the Domain Name System (DNS), a global network of servers that acts as a phone book for the internet. When a user enters a domain name into a web browser, the DNS translates that easy readable domain name into an IP address, which is a series of numbers that identifies the server where the website is hosted.
Example: “www.google.com” is connected to an IP address 142.250.186.164.
Try to remember this number and you’ll be happy that DNS exists!
But Wait, There’s More: Email or Website?
Nowadays, emails are typically hosted on special email servers that are separate from website servers. So while google.com is at 142.250.186.164, the email whatever@google.com might be located at 142.250.185.133. DNS is configured so that this works seamlessly, although both email and website hosting rely on the domain name for identification.
Since DNS acts as a small server, another name for it is Nameserver. It doesn’t have to be at the Registrar.
Example: Your domain is registered at NameCheap, DNS/Nameserver are at Cloudflare, email at Google Workspace, website at Digital Ocean.
In Short: Important Points
- Make sure that you own your domain name and always have access
- Use a generic email address like Gmail for registration – preferrably one that never expires.
- Read the alerts from your Registrar, check your spam folder for their messages
- Keep a backup payment (like a 2nd credit card) on file.
- Do not share the login, give I.T. people and web designers a limited, shared access instead.
Related Topic:
Domain Registration
You purchase the right to use a unique domain name for a certain time.
DNS (NameServers)
Directs the requests to a specifc server. Website and email are on different servers.
Servers: Website and Email
Website and Email Servers are specified and have different IP addresses