Domain names & website hosting

QUME 185

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Topics covered

What an Internet Service Provider (ISP) does

What a Hosting Provider does What a Domain Name is

how to get one how to use one the typical costs

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Internet Service Provider (ISP)

Provides Internet connectivity e-mail accounts, Web access, etc.

Can include web server space (not under your own domain name!)

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A general domain name

You can use the server space provided by your ISP.

Typical URL formats: www.island.net/~username www3.telus.net/public/username members.shaw.ca/username

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Hosting provider

Server space for your own website (with your own domain name) Most individuals and small

businesses purchase a hosting service

Some companies provide web hosting services exclusively

Internet connectivity usually purchased separately, usually from a different provider

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Your own domain name

A form of branding, and more businesslike:

www.yourdomain.com Portable and permanent:

does not depend on the ISP

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Using a domain name

Domain Name Service (DNS) server is needed to host it This is the role of the Hosting Provider

Options for hosting Parked (i.e. register only) Shared hosting (By far the most common) Co-locating your own server on the premises

of a hosting provider (expensive!)

Server on own premises (need reliable server & fast connection)

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Shared hosting

Very common arrangement for individuals and small businesses Accounts usually provide reasonable

bandwidth and storage space and sufficient e-mail addresses.

Bandwidth requirements will depend on how large the files are that people will access from your site, and how many people use the site.

Typical cost: $20 per month.

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Dedicated Server, Co-located

The server is just for your use. You purchase (or lease) server

hardware and software. The hosting service manages it for you.

This is called a Co-located server Typical costs: $275 - $475 per

month.

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Your own server

Costs can vary widely Need reliable

components Need reliable, high-

bandwidth connection

Multiple redundancies!

Extensive technical knowledge required

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The domain name system

How is a domain name made up? An actual name followed by the TLD

Top-Level Domain (TLD) refers to the suffix attached to the domain name

amazon.com

viu.ca

bbc.co.uk

island.net

sierraclub.org

nasa.gov

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Domain name system

ICANN – The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers

CIRA – Canadian Internet Registration Authority

Use an accredited registrar to register a domain name

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Choosing a domain name

Select a name that is (ideally): descriptive and/or memorable user-friendly not too long

Can resolve more than one domain name to the same website, e.g. the .com and .ca forms (i.e. aliasing)

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WHOIS query (or lookup)

WHOIS – a record of who owns a domain name.

This is public information, widely available: http://baremetal.com/domains/whois_tool.php3

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Obtaining a domain name

Decide which top level domain or domains you want, ie .com, .ca or .org

Perform a WHOIS lookup Decide on your ideal domain name(s) Many certified registrars to select

from: local ISP www.domaindirect.com many others

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Registering a domain name

Registrant has the right to use the domain name

Cost per year is typically under $20

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Making your website available

All files must be on a web server

Use File Transfer Protocol (FTP) to send the files to the server

WS_FTP (Windows) Fetch (Mac)

Use the Web Folders method (Windows)

Website software often includes utilitiesto upload files

Some programs allow direct editing on the server BBEdit (Mac) for example

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Typical FTP Session

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On the server…

The Server has a folder or directory structure similar to your PC

For example, your domain name is www.mypetdomain.com you have a folder called pets in your space on

the server you upload your HTML file called cats.htm into

this folder find this page on the web at

http://www.mypetdomain.com/pets/cats.htm

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end

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Finally…

Design, build and launch your website Publicize your URL and domain name

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When is a web page not on the Web?Viewing your web page locally

View your html file locally (ie. not on the Internet) In Internet Explorer select File – Open (type

in file name or browse your local drives. You can also drag and drop from a folder or double-click)

The file looks exactly as it would if it were on the World Wide Web, but only you can see it – it is not publicly available until it is put on a web server

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How does the domain name system work?

The Internet functions using IP addresses, not names, so a DNS (Domain Name System) server is necessary if you are going to make a website available

DNS is an Internet Standard for resolving the names of individual machines into IP addresses and vice versa

An IP address looks like: 142.25.33.60 Each machine on the Internet has a unique IP

address DNS is the process of turning the name you

register into an IP address so that the computers, which use only numbers, can translate the name into the numbers they understand.

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DNS in action

Finding your IP address Resolving an IP address into a name See today’s web page for useful links