Domain names
Here you can find a
brief introduction to domain names.
When you decide to put your organisation ‘on-line’ you will
probably want your own domain name, some thing like; yourbusiness.com.
So lets take a look at what you need to do - and why . . .
Tech Stuff
Computers are not very good with names, so they have been given a
numerical way of addressing each other, called IP (Internet Protocol)
addressing. IP addresses take the following form; xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx. So
anything from 000.000.000.000 to 255.255.255.255 constitutes an ‘IP
address’.
Humans are pretty feeble when it comes to remembering long
strings of numbers, for example; a telephone number is about the limit
of our ability.
So a domain name is a handy way of ‘addressing’, the Internet.
Here you can see a simplified representation of what happens when you
‘request’ a Web page:
YOU REQUEST
www.yourbusiness.com
DNS (Domain Name Service)
yourbusiness.com = 214.254.187.173
SERVER AT 214.254.187.173
Sends requested file to your computer.
You could have requested the file directly by typing
214.254.187.173 into the browser address bar (you can try this) but
it’s much more convenient to remember a common business name than a
numerical string, for example; amazon.co.uk.
Getting One
When you ‘buy’ a domain name you are simply getting a listing in a very
large directory. Buying a domain name is probably not the best way of
describing it, as you do not own it, you are just leasing it, it is not
yours forever!
Domain naming ‘authorities’ such as Nominet (in the UK)
maintain the register and generally oversee the issue of domains in
their jurisdiction (co.uk org.uk net.uk for Nominet) and they send you
a nice little certificate!
Once you have obtained your domain name you will need to also
purchase some ‘Hosting’. Hosting is at it’s most basic level; renting
some space on a server connected to the Internet.
You can then ‘Point’ your domain name at the server holding
your files.
Changing the ‘DNS’ records (this is what you do when ‘point’
your domain at a new IP address) can take up to 2 days to propagate to
every DNS server on the Internet.
Then you are ready to ‘Upload’ the files that make up your
Website and configure your E-mail . . .