Comments on: How Website Hosting Works (in Plain English)

By: Brett Derricott

Brett Derricott — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 23:38:14 +0000

Tom: To determine what will happen in the instance you’ve described, it all depends on which nameservers are in use. Are the XYZ nameservers being used or is the domain still using the former hosting service’s domain servers?

I’d suggest typing the domain into a tool like http://www.domaintools.com/ to see what they show for the domain servers. That’ll tell you where the authority is for that domain.

Let me know if you still have questions.

By: Tom Harris

Tom Harris — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 18:48:31 +0000

Brett, you wrote that two DNS alternatives, given domain name at XYZ and hosting at ABC, were “First, you can change your nameserver settings for your domain to use the ABC nameservers instead of the XYZ nameservers. Second, you can use the XYZ nameservers to point your domain to your website’s IP address at ABC.”

Which of these operations is done via ABC’s control panel, and which at XYZ’s control panel?

I’m asking because I may have a case where I made a change at XYZ’s control panel, and meanwhile, a former hosting service, call it QRS, is making a change too, and I wonder what will happen.

By: Brett Derricott

Brett Derricott — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 15:18:12 +0000

@yoyoimut: The web server is configured to respond to the domain name sent in the request. Basically, the server has a rule setup that says: if someone wants a web page from AAAAA.com, it’s in this folder, if they want a page from BBBBB.com it’s in the other folder. Both websites are stored on the same server but the web site files are in separate folders.

By: yoyoimut

yoyoimut — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 16:37:35 +0000

I am a newbie in web hosting mechanism.
I got much new knowledge from your above explanation.

I am interested in your statement as follows

“Multiple websites are often hosted on one IP address. The domain name is what tells the server which website the user wants to view. If we only used IP addresses, we’d be limited to just one website per IP address.”

Assume there are two domain name, e.g.,
AAAAA.com and BBBBB.com registered by different persons.
However, their websites are hosted on the same server using the same IP address.

How can the web server identify an incoming request whether the request is for AAAAA.com website or BBBBB.com website?
On the other words, how the web server admins configure the website for each domain?

Thank you in advance.
If you don’t mind, please forward your answer to my email: visual_cpp@programmer.net

By: Brett Derricott

Brett Derricott — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 22:37:30 +0000

@Mike: Yes, the IP address is that of the machine where the website is hosted.

By: Mike

Mike — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 14:36:11 +0000

The ip address here (the 1 the dns points out) refers to the ip address of the pc where the website is hosted….right??

By: Brett Derricott

Brett Derricott — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 15:02:08 +0000

@Jasmin: The key to using a domain purchased at XYZ with hosting purchased from ABC is another three letters…DNS. You’ll need to do one of the following:

First, you can change your nameserver settings for your domain to use the ABC nameservers instead of the XYZ nameservers.

Second, you can use the XYZ nameservers to point your domain to your website’s IP address at ABC.

Either company should be able to help you with the details. Hope that helps!

By: Jasmin

Jasmin — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 23:31:14 +0000

Hi, im really new at this. I want to start a website, I have registered a domain name with company XYZ. I have signed up to webhosting with ABC. My question is, how do I use the domain I registered with XYZ when I am webhosting with ABC? Thanks again for any input if any.

By: Unique Article Wizard

Unique Article Wizard — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 05:21:20 +0000

This is such a great explanation! I especially like the analogy of the isp and phone number. Thanks.

By: colin hunter

colin hunter — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 00:02:46 +0000

@brett – good question maybe, but great answer! I didn’t even think about mail servers….