Domain Name and Website Names: How To

By Jason Klein- NPSIS.com

Your website communicates with other computers and the internet by using its network adapter or NIC (Network Interface Card) that is within the server. This card and thereby the server uses a unique address known as an IP address. An IPv4 ip address is a address annotated as four numbers segmented by dots. Each segment or octet can have a value between zero and 255, so your dedicated server or business computer address format would look similar to this: 172.16.65.17 On a Windows Server you can determine what the server ip address is by selecting the start button then selecting run. Type in ipconfig and click "OK", a black command prompt should appear in which you can type ipconfig. On a Linux Server you can open a terminal window and type ifconfig. You can use the same command on your home Windows or Linux system to determine your static dedicated ip address.

When you lookup websites online, your web browser talks to web servers via their IP address. Advances in technology have made it possible to assign words or hostnames to ip addresses. PC's use operating systems like windows or linux operating systems. These operating systems use something called a host file to translate the words into IP addresses. On a Windows computer the host file is stored in the c:windowssystem32drivesetc directory; on Linux and Unix servers the host file is kept in the /etc directory.

Have you ever been to 3111 World Dr. in Orlando Florida? Do you know where that is? You may be able to figure out what location I am talking about but wouldn't it be easier if I said have you ever been to Disney Magic Kingdom? That is essentially name resolution 3111 World Dr. Orlando, Florida 32830 is equivalent to the IP address and Disney Magic Kingdom is equivalent to a hostname. The server space or website hosting is equivalent to the land that the theme park sits on. So when you register for a domain name you get the name but you also must rent or purchase some "land" or server space for your website to reside. Likewise if you rent or buy the server space but do not register a domain name or an 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.

For hostname to IP translation on the internet the DNS (Domain Name System) is commonly used. When you type www.npsis.com or the name of your website design store or the website name of your company, your computer contacts a DNS server to find out what IP address goes with the domain name or URL that you entered. Whether you are setting up website on a webserver or an email server you need a domain name.

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.

Make sure you control your own internet destiny. Never let your web designer or web design store reserve your website address in their name. By purchasing your domain name yourself, you secure your own interest in your website address and you protect yourself from negligent people and predators looking to take advantage of you.

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