Domain Names & DNS

Probably one of the first things you have to deal with when establishing a website is your Domain Name. So, what are Domain Names and why do we need them anyway?

I am not a number!

Well - actually, your website is indeed, ultimately, just a number in the vast expanse. In fact, every computer connected to the Internet (including yours!) has a number, called an IP address, that is made up of four numbers between 1 and 255, separated by a dot (e.g. 213.133.150.155). Without getting into the deeper details of IP addressing, it is suffice to say that there are roughly 4.2 billion addresses out there - which makes your website suddenly seem very insignificant. Incredibly, the current system is forecast to run out of addresses anytime around 2012. The current address system (IP version 4) has been around since the birth of the Internet, but here is a whole new address system (IP version 6) that will solve these problems for a long time to come.

A rose by any other name

Imagine if postal addresses were nothing more than the exact latitude and longitude (GPS co-ordinates) of the destination. Life wouldn't be very enjoyable at Christmas! The DNS system, like your postal address, is a way of describing a numerical location in a more human readable and memorable way.

This is the magic of the DNS (Domain Name System). In essence, when you try to look at a website, say www.myweb.com, your computer automatically talks to it's closest DNS server and says "what's the IP address for www.myweb.com". The DNS server returns the IP address of the website you are looking for, and your computer then connects to the website and downloads the pages you are looking for.

The DNS system is made up of a network of DNS servers, run by a hierarchy of organisations ranging from IANA (the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority), managed by ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) in California, right down to hosting companies such as Ziphost. All the DNS servers on the planet talk to each other through their chains of command so that any of them can obtain the IP address for any domain name in the world.

Putting it all into practice

When you subscribe to hosting from us, your domain name must be configured to point to our Domain Name Servers (usually just known as Nameservers) - otherwise when someone types in your domain name, their computer won't be able to find the IP address of our servers.

Your domain name is configured through the control panel of the company you purchased your domain from, or if we are managing your domain for you, we will do this for you. Once the change has been made, it can take up to 24hrs for the changes to propogate to every other DNS server on the planet. Our Nameservers will then be "authoritative" for your domain - i.e. They are the official home of your domain name, and tell the world the IP addresses of your website, and email servers.

Protect your domain name!

It is important to ensure the safety of your domain name - it is after all, your name on the Internet. If you change address, or company name, you should update your domain name administrative records accordingly. You don't want official paperwork going to the wrong people! Again, if we are managing your domain, just let us know the details of any changes, and we will advise you.