How DNS (Domain Name Servers) Work

The ultimate point of commonality between hosting a website and hosting email is the domain name. The domain is the main part of a website address that follows the "www." They are also the part of an email address that follows the "@" symbol. Domain names include the ".com" or ".net" etc. of the address. Therefore newfangled.com and newfangled.net are completely different domain names.

The key to understanding the difference between hosting a website and hosting email is in understanding how domain names work. We've already stated that hosting a website and hosting email are actually two very different services. In fact there is a third kind of hosting that is also distinct from, but related to, web and email hosting, that is, domain name hosting.


Before a website can be hosted, or email set up, a domain name must be registered. Registering a domain name used to be something only one organization (Internic) was authorized to do. Today you can register a domain name through many different services. Some popular registrars are www.netsol.com (Network Solutions - now owned by VeriSign), Register.com (www.register.com), and Go Daddy (www.godaddy.com). These services look up domain names to see if they are available. Domain name registrations typically cost between $10 to $35 annually. Purchasing a domain name simply means that you own it. To use it for anything like email or a website, the domain name itself first needs to be hosted. The default is usually to have the domain registrar, Network Solutions for example, host the domain, but this is not required. Anyone that maintains a domain name server (more on DNS servers later) can host the domain. Before you can get a website or an email account working with the domain you have to decide where the domain name is going to be hosted. All three aspects of hosting; domain name, website, and email can be hosted by completely different service providers.

When people inquire about "website hosting" they usually group all three elements together, or more accurately, they fail to recognize that there are three different things that need to be hosted.


Of all three elements it is the domain name hosting itself that holds it all together for the smooth operation of the others. Some clients don't realize that the company hosting their website may not be the same company that's hosting their domain name. Frequently, the company that originally registered the domain name continues to host it. Register.com, for example, offers domain name hosting as an additional service to purchasing a domain name. If you have ever purchased a domain you may remember that one step in the process allows you the option of providing a primary and secondary DNS (domain name server) name or IP address. This DNS name (or number) is how you would tell Register.com who will host the domain name itself. Register.com and other similar services assume that most people who register domains don't understand this distinction and so they default to using their own DNS servers for the domains they register. This makes it easier to register a domain, but can also make it harder to make changes to the domain name records later because years later people forget who they registered with, and they lose track of the account information (user and password) they used when originally registering the domain name. Additionally, many companies will have a third party do their domain name registration for them. This adds another layer of obfuscation to gaining access to the domain registration account.


If a third party registered a domain, it is possible that when they registered it they assigned the domain to themselves. If this is the case then technically and perhaps legally they own the domain name. Sometimes this happens out of ignorance or for convenience and the third party will cooperate in re assigning the domain to the client - but if they aren't there could be a real fight for ownership of the domain. This can, without saying, put a crimp in the "go live" process.

Once access to the domain's account is gained, changes to any aspect of hosting can be made to the domain's records.   next >