Domain Nameservers and IP Addresses. Nope, Not Scary at All.
Aug 7th, 2007 by Do
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While Domain Nameservers (DNS) and IP addresses might sound overwhelming, they’re really not. Before you can type in www.mysite.com and have it actually go to your site, your nameservers and/or an IP address must be set up. It’s like giving a friend directions to your house. The nameservers and IP addresses are giving directions to where your website is, so it can show it to you.
Each website has an IP address, which is a group of numbers like 205.201.216.60. If you type these numbers in instead of www.mysite.com, you’ll still get to your website. Go ahead and try the IP address above and see what I mean. However, www.mysite.com is a whole lot easier to remember than a bunch of numbers, so we use domain names instead.
A domain nameserver (DNS) looks like ns1.hostingcompany.com. DNS server information is provided by your hosting company. Before your site can be viewed on the web, you or your webmaster must login to your account where you registered your domain name and set the nameservers. Again, DNS are just directions to where your website’s files and pages are stored. When you update nameservers, it takes 24-48 hours before they take effect across the internet. After that time, when people type in www.mysite.com, it takes them to the correct place where they can view your site. Your files on a specific server (computer) is just the same as your house in the neighborhood and without directions, no one can find you.
Does that break it down into more understandable terms? If you have questions, leave a reply below.
Want to Know More?
Choosing the Right Domain Name For Success by Do on July 10th, 2007
.com, .net, .org - What Does it All Mean? by Do on July 28th, 2007
How Long Should I Register My Domain Name For? by Do on July 30th, 2007
Who Should I Register My Domain Name With? by Do on August 1st, 2007
Whose Name Should I Register My Domain Name Under? by Do on August 2nd, 2007
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Hi Do, Though it’s a short article, it’s very informative and personally I do like this. Just keep it up.
I’m thrilled to see someone publish info like this for new internet marketers. We need more sites like this that give us details in language we can understand. Good job!
Yes, it is a short article, but I want to be sure to keep potentially difficult and overwhelming issues short and sweet. We can build from there and I know that few people have the time to really get into longer tech articles that require a lot of thought. Well, at least it’s tough for me, but maybe I’m a little slow.