10-21-2009, 07:50 AM
[Guide] - The Difference Between Domains; DNS Servers and Web Hosting
By iintens - the iintens blog
I see a lot of people get these three things totally confused; and this can sometimes lead to them buying things they don't need to have -or not buying all the stuff they need and totally getting confused.
As I see this confusion happen on this forum; I thought I'd write up a small 'guide' as to what the difference between these services are.
First; Lets start off with Domains
A domain is part of your line in the massive phone directory of the internet; they can come in many forms; (For Example: google.com or hackforums.net); you can buy these domains from a domain registrar; usually for a fixed price for X ammount of years - once you buy a domain from a domain registrar they add an entry to a central authority; commonly called the 'Domain Registry'; and then the domain registry sends your domain information off to the DNS servers all around the world; and the details you entered when you registered the domain are added to the 'Whois Database'; this is a database that tells the general public the owner of a domain; and some contact details relating to that person, this information is sometimes 'sensitive' and can be used if somebody wants to 'dox' you; certain domain registrars offer 'Private Registration' that will let you put their contact details in the whois list and not your own
.
Once you own a domain; nobody else can use it, and you can add 'sub-domains' to that domain as you wish (For Example: images.google.com or games.hackforums.net); but I'll get into that later.
Next: Web Hosting
Web hosting is the actual space on a remote host where your website pages are stored for the rest of the world to see; a server is basically a computer stored in a 'datacenter'; which is basically a HUGE building filled with computers; networking equipment; Air-Conditioning units.etc; everything needed to put hundreds of computers on this huge network we call the internet.
when you pay for hosting - they usually offer you some services like MySQL Databases, Support for Hosting PHP/ASP content.etc
Next: DNS or Domain Name Service:
DNS is used to tell the world what to do with your domain name once a request is sent by the user; it's what brings the whole concept of domains together.
Basically; next to your domain name in the domain registry - there is usually between one and four 'nameservers' listed.
When a remote computer requests information from your domain name, it needs to know what IP address to connect to so it can send and recieve information to and from the remote host, this is where the nameservers come in.
Once a computer is asked to connect to a hostname (domain or subdomain); it contacts the a DNS server (usually your ISPs) asking where it can find the nameservers for said domain; the server will usually send a response saying "find the nameservers at ns1.blahblah.com", once the computer gets this reply; it will contact one of the nameservers asking for the IP address of the computer it is needing to connect to, said nameserver will usually send back a reply basically saying "the ip address for somewhere.com is 123.123.123.123", so now the computer can connect to the remote host; and transfer information.
Now, I am pretty unsure about the DNS part of this guide; but it's basically how it goes - unless you want to go really in-depth; I'd just stick with this
By iintens - the iintens blog
I see a lot of people get these three things totally confused; and this can sometimes lead to them buying things they don't need to have -or not buying all the stuff they need and totally getting confused.
As I see this confusion happen on this forum; I thought I'd write up a small 'guide' as to what the difference between these services are.
First; Lets start off with Domains
A domain is part of your line in the massive phone directory of the internet; they can come in many forms; (For Example: google.com or hackforums.net); you can buy these domains from a domain registrar; usually for a fixed price for X ammount of years - once you buy a domain from a domain registrar they add an entry to a central authority; commonly called the 'Domain Registry'; and then the domain registry sends your domain information off to the DNS servers all around the world; and the details you entered when you registered the domain are added to the 'Whois Database'; this is a database that tells the general public the owner of a domain; and some contact details relating to that person, this information is sometimes 'sensitive' and can be used if somebody wants to 'dox' you; certain domain registrars offer 'Private Registration' that will let you put their contact details in the whois list and not your own
.Once you own a domain; nobody else can use it, and you can add 'sub-domains' to that domain as you wish (For Example: images.google.com or games.hackforums.net); but I'll get into that later.
Next: Web Hosting
Web hosting is the actual space on a remote host where your website pages are stored for the rest of the world to see; a server is basically a computer stored in a 'datacenter'; which is basically a HUGE building filled with computers; networking equipment; Air-Conditioning units.etc; everything needed to put hundreds of computers on this huge network we call the internet.
when you pay for hosting - they usually offer you some services like MySQL Databases, Support for Hosting PHP/ASP content.etc
Next: DNS or Domain Name Service:
DNS is used to tell the world what to do with your domain name once a request is sent by the user; it's what brings the whole concept of domains together.
Basically; next to your domain name in the domain registry - there is usually between one and four 'nameservers' listed.
When a remote computer requests information from your domain name, it needs to know what IP address to connect to so it can send and recieve information to and from the remote host, this is where the nameservers come in.
Once a computer is asked to connect to a hostname (domain or subdomain); it contacts the a DNS server (usually your ISPs) asking where it can find the nameservers for said domain; the server will usually send a response saying "find the nameservers at ns1.blahblah.com", once the computer gets this reply; it will contact one of the nameservers asking for the IP address of the computer it is needing to connect to, said nameserver will usually send back a reply basically saying "the ip address for somewhere.com is 123.123.123.123", so now the computer can connect to the remote host; and transfer information.
Now, I am pretty unsure about the DNS part of this guide; but it's basically how it goes - unless you want to go really in-depth; I'd just stick with this
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