dNS

[bnweber1@yah]

What is DNS hosting?

[j2buttonsw]

The internet works on a TCP/IP network. This means that TCP/IP is the network protocol and each computer on this network must have a unique IP address (such as 172.236.75.92). Because it would be very tiresome to remember IP addresses, DNS (or Domain Name System) resolves friendly domain names (such as www.bbc.co.uk) to IP addresses (such as 212.58.224.116). The internet requires servers that do this resolution (called DNS servers) but who makes the decision as to what domain name is associated with what IP address? Well ultimately it is ICANN but some companies (such as Internet Service Providers or ISPs) will allow you to put forward your domain name (www.mydomain.co.uk) to add to the ICANN IP database. DNS hosting is therefore being done by the company that forwards your domain name request.

[stevie21]

All of the above is true but it might make more sense with a simple explanation (bring things down to my level!). If you have a webiste of your own and you save the pages of it on some free webspace hosted by your ISP then it'd get a crappy address like http://www.myISP.myUsername.co.uk/index.html If instead you go to www.dot.tk then they can give you an easy to remember address like http://www.username.tk Anyone who visits the latter is redirected to the former :it's all just a way of giving users an easy to remember address to use and actually sending to another, tricky, location. In the real world (and just to refer back to the 1st example) the 4 sets of numbers, the IP address, is the physical location of the website. You type in www.nme.com and the DNS host/server redirects you to the physical place where the site is hosted, in the same way that you can phone the old "192" and ask "Jimmy McGinty in High St, Edinburgh" and get the reply "0131 999 9876". Alternatively, you could try google - type in "define: "

[stevie21]

oops, my google, define thingy didn't work!! Try here instead!