The difference between a domain name and web hosting

From a user’s point of view

Here’s how domain registration works from a user’s point of view.

1. Think of a good name you want for your website.
2. A domain name needs to be unique. Prepare a few variations – just in case the name is taken by others.
3. Make a search on one of the registrars’ website (ie. GoDaddy).
4. If your selected domain name is not taken, you can order it instantly.
5. Pay a registration fees, range $10 – $35 depends on the TLD (usually using PayPal or credit card).
6. You are now done with the registration process.
7. Next you will need to point the domain name to your web hosting (by changing its DNS record).

And that’s about it.

We discussed in-depth about how to choose a good domain name, compared domain registration prices, and explained the process of buying an existing domain in this domain dummies guide. .

Who’s governing domain registration process?

Internet Privacy
Things are a lot more complicated from a domain registrar’s point of view.

Domain registration process are governed by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN.

This governing body is essentially a global regulator of best practices for registrars, web hosts, and the clients who interact with them.

According to the body’s standards, all customers registering a domain name must be prepared to furnish contact information for themselves, their organization, their business, and even their employer in some cases.

Regulations on ccTLDs

For those users who are seeking to register a country-specific domain name option (like “.us” or “.co.uk”), a good portion of the registration process will be dedicated to determining whether or not the customer is a resident of that country and therefore legally permitted to purchase one of its country-specific top level domains (will talk about this later). And that should hammer home a secondary point to users.

While there are hundreds of available domain name suffixes (like “.com” or “.net), many of these domains have specific registration requirements.

For example, only organizations can register a “.org” domain name, and only American citizens can register a domain name that ends in “.us.” Failing to meet the guidelines and requirements for each type of domain during the actual registration and payment process will result in the domain name being “released” back into the pool of available domain names; the customer will have to pick a top level domain for which they actually qualify, or cancel their purchase altogether.

During the signup process, it’s also important to have information directly from a web host, as this information will be need when filling in the DNS and MX record information during registration.

These two records determine which web hosting server’s content is displayed when a user navigates to the domain, as well as how email is addressed, sent, and received using that hosting package and the associated domain name. Inaccurate information will result in errors and page-load failures.

Who Is data

Every domain name has a publicly accessible record that includes the owner’s personal information such as owner name, contact number, mailing address, and domain registration as well as expiry date.

It’s called a WhoIs record and lists the registrant and contacts for the domain.

As required by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the domain owners must make these contact information available on WHOIS directories. These records are available anytime to anyone who does a simple WhoIs lookup.

In other words, if someone wants to know who owns a website, all they to do is run a quick WHOIS search, type the domain name and voila, they have access to the website registration details.

Domain name privacy

Domain privacy replaces your WHOIS info with the info of a forwarding service done by a proxy server.

In result, your personal info, such as  physical address, emails, telephone number, etc is hide from the public. Domain privacy is important because your domain record (ie. the WhoIs data) may also be used in ways that aren’t legitimate or desirable. Since anyone can look up a WhoIs record, spammers, hackers, identity thieves and stalkers may access your personal information!

Unethical companies check domain expiration dates then send official looking “renewal” notices in an attempt to get the domain owners to transfer domains to their company, or send invoices that are service solicitations for search engine submissions and other questionable services.

Both email and snail mail spammers use the WhoIs databases to harvest domain owners’ email and contact domain owners with solicitations as well.

Source : webhostingsecretrevealed.net

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Author : Black Viper

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