Web hosting and domain names are two terms you will hear more often than not when dealing with a website. Companies responsible for registering and managing domain names for all websites around the world are known as domain registrars, while those companies that offer an array of web hosting services are known as web hosting companies. Some of the terms related to web hosting and domain will be discussed in this text.
- Domain
A domain is a translated character string reference representing the logical IP address of the computer (server) where a website is locally located on the World Wide Web (internet).
The internet is an international network of computers each having its own unique logical address identifier called IP (internet protocol) address. On the web, this IP represents the numerical address of the server where a website is locally located. Since words are easier to remember than IP addresses, the domain name system (DNS) that translates character strings of server addresses into its original numerical IP address was introduced.
- What is domain extension
Domain extensions are the suffixes or the last part of a domain name that describes the internet category of a website. They are usually represented by letters to the right of the dot (.) that comes after any domain name and are also called Top Level Domains or TLDs.
Examples are:
- .com – for commercial
- .net – for networking
- .org – for organization
- .gov – for government
- .edu – for education
- .ng – for Nigeria
Differentiate between a domain and a URL
Domain is a simple reference to the IP address of the server where a web resource is located. Domain is usually just a part of a URL.
The URL (Uniform Resource Locator) on the other hand is the full path that specifies the location of a web resource on a computer network and the mechanism on how it can be retrieved. A standard URL gives more detailed information about a web resource as it usually consists of the method(protocol), host name(domain name), port and path(resource file path).
Subdomain
A sub domain simply means a subdivision of a domain. It is a domain that is part of a larger domain. For example; “tools.techpro.com” is a subdomain that is part of another subdomain (techpro.com) which in turn is also a subdomain of the “com” top level domain (TLD).
Hosting
Web hosting are those services provided by companies that are willing to sell or lease memory space on their servers as well as internet connectivity to individuals and organizations that are looking to make their website accessible via the World Wide Web.
Web hosting is typically done in a data center. Web hosts can also provide data center space and connectivity to the Internet for other servers located in their data center.
Types of hosting
- Dedicated hosting
- Shared hosting
- Managed hosting
- Cloud hosting
- Cluster hosting
- Reseller hosting
- Grid hosting
Ten hosting companies
- SiteGround – https://www.siteground.com
- DigitalOcean – https://www.digitalocean.com
- HostGator – https://www.hostgator.com
- BlueHost – https://www.bluehost.com
- DreamHost – https://www.dreamhost.com
- GoDaddy – https://uk.godaddy.com/hosting/web-hosting
- Hostinger – https://www.https://www.hostinger.com
- ListedHosting – https://www.listedhosting.com
- GreenGeeks – https://www.greengeeks.com
- Namecheap – https://www.namecheap.com
Difference between Web Hosting & Domain Names
Web hosting and domain names work together to make a website visible to the public. In terms of difference between domain and hosting, domain is the address that makes a visitor to easily find your website online, while hosting is where the website files are stored and can be retrieved anytime it is called. In order to have a functioning website, you need both – a domain and hosting space.
Here are those six steps your web browser take to render content to the user:
- You type a URL in your browser and press Enter
- Browser looks up IP address for the domain
- Browser initiates TCP connection with the server
- Browser sends the HTTP request to the server
- Server processes request and sends back a response
- Browser renders the content
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