13-07-2010, 03:43 AM
The difference between Domains, DNS servers and Web hosting
I've seen a lot of people become confused and getting these three things mixed up. This can lead to spreading incorrect information or the purchase of the wrong product(s). So here's a small guide on the differences.
Domains
You can think of a domain as an entry in an internet phone book, they come in many different forms, "google.com" and "mcompute.co.uk" are both domains. Anybody can buy domains as long as they're available, you have to buy them from domain registrars such as godaddy.com. You usually have to payed a fix price, eg. £10 a year. You then define 2 or more DNS servers to your domain so that people know where it's hosted.
Once you own a domain it's yours for however long you purchased it for, nobody else can use or register it.
Web Hosting
For people to be able to see your website it needs to be hosted on a server. The web server is usually a remote computer, the place where all of your files and web pages are stored, your database(s) and everything else are also stored there.
Domain Name System
The Domain name system, also known as DNS is a naming system for computers, services, or any resource connected to the Internet. It translates human friendly hostnames in to IP addresses. When a remote computer requests information from your domain it needs to know what the IP address of your domain is so that it can connect to it, allowing data to be sent and received.
The basic process is a computer asks to connect to your domain, firstly it contacts your DNS server asking where it can find the name servers for your domain - the DNS server will then send a response saying "You can find them here ns1.blah", once your computer receives the reply, it'll then ask the name servers for the IP address of your website, when it receives the IP address it can then connect.