What Is An IP Address, What is DNS?
Many users looking for a web hosting company may come upon terms such as DNS and IP address.
In this article we will explain the meaning of these terms in simple words. We understand that putting together a website, obtaining hosting for it, getting a domain name etc can be sometimes confusing.
Lets talk about the first thing. We will go into a bit of details, so be patient if you do not understand the terms at first. By the time you reach the end of the article, hopefully they will all have cleared up.
An IP address is like a phone number for your computer. It looks like this:
657.35.23.846
As soon as your computer logs on to the internet, it is assigned a unique address by your Internet Service Provider (ISP). The address may be a static IP, usually assigned to servers and does not change, or it may be a dynamic IP, usually assigned to a home PC, and may change every time you log in.
To find out your IP address, visit a site such as whatismyipaddress and it will show immediately after their webpage loads.
Next let us explain the term DNS.
DNS stands for Domain Name System. A domain name is the name of your website, like maryjones.com.
It works a little like an IP address, except that it is much easier to remember. Also, you can have as many names as you want, but only one IP at a time. In simple terms, a Domain Name System is used to translate a domain name into an IP address, so that when you type in the domain name (also called an URL) into your browser, the DNS then takes over and translates that url into a number, and uses that IP number to locate the server where that domain name or url is located. That is the function of DNS in a nutshell.
There are other more complex functions of DNS aside from mapping IP addresses. These include, among others, Mail transfer, where the DNS is utilised to set the address for email delivery. Others are more complex and are beyond the scope of this article.
Knowing these terms will definitely make your life easier as you search for a good web hosting company. Visit our homepage, Complete Hosting Reviews, and take a look at our unbiased reviews of the top 20 web hosting companies so you can make a better buying decision.
In this article we will explain the meaning of these terms in simple words. We understand that putting together a website, obtaining hosting for it, getting a domain name etc can be sometimes confusing.
Lets talk about the first thing. We will go into a bit of details, so be patient if you do not understand the terms at first. By the time you reach the end of the article, hopefully they will all have cleared up.
An IP address is like a phone number for your computer. It looks like this:
657.35.23.846
As soon as your computer logs on to the internet, it is assigned a unique address by your Internet Service Provider (ISP). The address may be a static IP, usually assigned to servers and does not change, or it may be a dynamic IP, usually assigned to a home PC, and may change every time you log in.
To find out your IP address, visit a site such as whatismyipaddress and it will show immediately after their webpage loads.
Next let us explain the term DNS.
DNS stands for Domain Name System. A domain name is the name of your website, like maryjones.com.
It works a little like an IP address, except that it is much easier to remember. Also, you can have as many names as you want, but only one IP at a time. In simple terms, a Domain Name System is used to translate a domain name into an IP address, so that when you type in the domain name (also called an URL) into your browser, the DNS then takes over and translates that url into a number, and uses that IP number to locate the server where that domain name or url is located. That is the function of DNS in a nutshell.
There are other more complex functions of DNS aside from mapping IP addresses. These include, among others, Mail transfer, where the DNS is utilised to set the address for email delivery. Others are more complex and are beyond the scope of this article.
Knowing these terms will definitely make your life easier as you search for a good web hosting company. Visit our homepage, Complete Hosting Reviews, and take a look at our unbiased reviews of the top 20 web hosting companies so you can make a better buying decision.
