Domain Registration
Domain registration if the process of reserving a name on the internet for a certain period of time, usually one year. The domain name is a unique address and can be used to set up various services on the internet, such as a websites, applications, api’s, etc.
The registration of a domain name (example.com) is handled by Registrars who enable it for use by maintaining its registration against top level registries (for example, Verisgn for .com, CIRA for .ca, etc..). Apart from that, their primary server is to tell the rest of the internet which DNS server to use for the domain.
Domain Name System (DNS)
DNS is the hierarchical system that translates a domain name into an IP address notifying the requesting party where particular information is stored on the internet.
For example, when a user types a web address (example.com) into their web browser, your Internet Service Provider (ISP) requests DNS records which translate the domain into an IP address (101.169.25.56) and directs your connection to that IP.
Apart from the simple query above, DNS can become confusing as it is made up of many different elements that control different aspects of your domain name. Following is a quick explanation for each one.
| Type | Description |
| Nameservers | Nameservers "point" your domain name to the company that controls its DNS settings. Usually, this will be the company where you registered the domain name. However, if your website is hosted by another company, sometimes they will provide nameservers you need to point to instead. |
| Zone File | Zone Files are simply the files that store all of your domain's DNS settings. Your domain name's Zone File is stored on the company's nameserver. |
| A Records | A Records point your domain name to an individual server using an IP address. An example IP address is 123.4.67.5. Every domain name has a primary A Record called "@," which controls what your domain name does when some visits it directly. You can also use A Records to point subdomains (subdomain.example.com) to a server's IP address. |
| CNAME | CNAMEs point your subdomains to another server using a server name, like server1.godaddy.com. Most domain names have many CNAMEs. Unlike A Records, CNAMEs cannot use IP addresses. |
| MX Records | MX Records point your domain name's email to its email provider. |
More types here - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_DNS_record_types
Web-Hosting
A web-hosting service provides the necessary infrastructure to store website files, images, and other content a user may be looking for. These companies lease space on servers to their clients as well as web connectivity to those servers, typically by deploying data centers. Web-hosting typically has 3 different tiers of hosting:
- Shared web-hosting, where a large number of websites are typically housed on the same server.
- Dedicated web-hosting, where an entire server is leased and reserved for a single website.
- Virtual Private Server hosting, a hybrid of the first two options in which a website is hosted on its own virtual server so that it won't be affected by the websites of other customers.