Domain Name and Website Names: How To
Most NICs or Network Interface Cards within servers and computers are assigned a unique address known as Internet Protocol or IP address. An IPv4 ip address is a 32-bit numeric address written as four numbers separated by periods. Each number can be zero to 255. An ip address for a dedicated server using NAT (Network Address Translation) or your business computer would look similar to this 192.168.20.34 You can find out what your ip address is by typing ipconfig at the command prompt (Start, Run, ipconfig) on a Windows Server and by typing ifconfig on a Linux Server. You can type this command on your home Windows or Linux or Unix computer as well to find your static dedicated ip address.
Technology has simplified browsing for websites through the use of something called a host file. A host file translates a website name into the assigned IP address. So when you use your internet web browser to browse a website, it communicates to the web server using the ip address. The host file is stored in the c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\ directory on a windows computer and in the /etc directory on linux and unix systems.
Have you ever been to 1313 S Harbor Blvd in Anaheim California? Do you know what is at that address? If I had said “Have you ever been to Disney Land?” chances are that you would have immediately known what I was talking about. 131 S Harbor Blvd, Anaheim, California 92802 is the equivalent of an IP address, and Disney Land is the equivalent of a hostname. Website hosting is the equivalent of the land where Disney Land sits. So if you register a website address and get the name, you must also rent or purchase internet real estate or server space for your website to reside on. Likewise if you obtain website hosting but don’t register a website address, no one will know how to get to your website.
If you wanted your computer to look for www.npsis.com using the ip address 192.168.20.34, you would make an entry in your hostfile. The hostfile contains entries that look like this: 192.168.20.34 www.npsis.com. When you access the website www.npsis.com using your web browser, your computer would look for the ip address 192.168.65.14.
DNS (Domain Name System) is commonly used by Internet Service Providers to translate hostnames to IP addresses. When you type www.npsis.com or any other web address URL, your computer contacts a DNS server to find out what IP address is assigned to that domain name. All websites and servers have domain names if they are accessed over the internet.
If you are selecting a domain name or website name for your business it is to your advantage to select a domain name that is easy to remember and if possible reflects what your business or service is (ex. tomsgarage.com). You can also register multiple domain names and have your website design store optimize your web pages for those keywords. Then you can have multiple domain names point to your web site. So you could have tomsgarage.com, bestlocalgarage.com, and wefixcars.com all point to your website.
If you plan on having a web presence at some point, be sure to go ahead and register your website address now. There are many people and businesses that reserve the most desirable website addresses and resell them at costs much higher than the original reservation price.
Have you hired a web design store or individual web design consultant? Make absolutely sure that you own your website address and not them. By purchasing your domain name yourself, you protect yourself from negligent people and predators looking to take advantage of the fact that you might not know better.
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