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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.
About the Author
John Guinn is the Founder and CEO of Complete Hosting
Reviews, a website that publishes unbiased reviews of the
top web hosting companies. Read more at
http://completehostingreviews.com/
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