Basic domain-related ideas including top-level domains, subdomains, and DNS are introduced in this article.
You have definitely used domain names, even if you have never hosted a website before. Domain names are used each time you visit a website by name in a web browser, such hostingws.com.
From right to left, domain names are arranged hierarchically. The top-level domain (TLD) is the part of a domain name that appears at the right. There are several TLDs, including.net,.org,.edu, and.mil, but the most well-known is presumably.com. (Country codes are also TLDs; examples include.us and.fr.) You may select the TLD you want to use when registering a domain name, while some TLDs, like.edu and.gov, are only available to specific kinds of organizations.
The term "second-level domain" refers to the domain name level that follows the TLD. You specify this portion of the domain name. For instance, the second-level domain in hostingws.com is hostingws. This is the part of a domain name that you "own" when you buy it, together with any subdomains that fall under it. A TLD and a second-level domain are always present in a domain name.
A subdomain is a third-level domain, as you might have guessed. Although the www subdomain is arguably the most well-known, subdomains can have any name you choose. The functionality of websites can occasionally be divided into subdomains. You may have a French version of your website at fr.example.com and an English one at en.example.com, for instance.
The Internet wouldn't be as user-friendly without the Domain Name System (DNS). Every time we wanted to visit a website or utilize an Internet service, we would have to enter a series of digits like 75.98.175.166 (also known as an IP address) rather than readily remembered names like hostingws.com. DNS converts domain names that are legible by humans into computer-understandable numeric IP addresses.
Although you are the owner of the domain name when you buy it from a third-party registrar, it does not initially refer to anything. (In technical terms, a domain registrar frequently "parks" the domain, causing users to view a generic page that the registrar has given.) You must specify which name servers the domain should utilize in order for people to be able to access your website using the domain name.
Name servers are PCs that convert human-readable domain names into IP addresses using DNS. Name servers frequently use ns in their domain names (ns3.hostingws.com, for instance). We take care of name server configuration, so you don't have to worry about it if you buy a domain name straight from hostingws. You must, however, change the domain's name server settings to "point" to hostingws's name servers if you bought the name from another registrar (such eNom or Go Daddy). Users will then be able to access your website simply entering the domain name into their browser.
Now that you understand the fundamentals of domains, how can you make your domain compatible with the servers of hostingws? To configure your domain to function with hostingws, you have three options:
There is nothing further to do if you buy your domain straight from hostingws. DNS (name server) settings are handled for you by hostingws.
You can move your complete domain to hostingws if you already have one that you bought from another registrar or hosting provider. From the registrar to hosting, all domain-related functions, such as invoicing and domain management, are moved. Please refer to this page for details on how to accomplish this.
You can modify the name server (DNS) settings of an existing domain that you bought from a different registrar or hosting provider to link to hostingws's servers. Billing and domain management continue to be handled by the existing registrar, in contrast to a transferred domain. Please refer to this page for details on how to accomplish this.
Please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_Name_System for further information about DNS.
Please go to http://www.iana.org/domains/root/db to get a list of all top-level domains (TLDs).