The term domain name has multiple related meanings:
* A name that identifies a computer or computers on the Internet. These names appear as a component of a Web site's URL, e.g. en.wikipedia.org. This type of domain name is also called a hostname.
* The product that domain name registrars provide to their customers. These names are often called registered domain names.
* Names used for other purposes in the Domain Name System (DNS), for example the special name which follows the @ sign in an email address, or the Top-level domain names like .com, or the names used by the Session Initiation Protocol (VoIP), or DomainKeys.
* They are sometimes colloquially (and incorrectly) referred to by marketers as "web addresses".
This article will primarily discuss registered domain names. See the Domain Name System article for technical discussions about general domain names and the hostname article for further information about the most common type of domain name.
The most common types of domain names are hostnames that provide more memorable names to stand in for numeric IP addresses. They allow for any service to move to a different location in the topology of the Internet (or an intranet), which would then have a different IP address.
By allowing the use of unique alphabetical addresses instead of numeric ones, domain names allow Internet users to more easily find and communicate with web sites and other server-based services. The flexibility of the domain name system allows multiple IP addresses to be assigned to a single domain name, or multiple domain names to be assigned to a single IP address. This means that one server may have multiple roles (such as hosting multiple independent Web sites), or that one role can be spread among many servers. One IP address can also be assigned to several servers, as used in anycast and hijacked IP space.
Hostnames are restricted to the ASCII letters "a" through "z" (case-insensitive), the digits "0" through "9", and the hyphen, with some other restrictions. Registrars restrict the domains to valid hostnames, since, otherwise, they would be useless. The Internationalized domain name (IDN) system has been developed to bypass the restrictions on character allowances in hostnames, making it easier for users of non-English alphabets to use the Internet. The underscore character is frequently used to ensure that a domain name is not recognized as a hostname, for example with the use of SRV records, although some older systems, such as NetBIOS did allow it. Due to confusion and other reasons, domain names with underscores in them are sometimes used where hostnames are required.
The following example illustrates the difference between a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) and a domain name:
URL: http://www.example.net/index.html
Domain name: www.example.net
Registered domain name: example.net
As a general rule, the IP address and the server name are interchangeable. For most Internet services, the server will not have any way to know which was used. However, the explosion of interest in the Web means that there are far more Web sites than servers. To accommodate this, the hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) specifies that the client tells the server which name is being used. This way, one server with one IP address can provide different sites for different domain names. This feature goes under the name virtual hosting and is commonly used by Web hosts.
For example, as referenced in RFC 2606 (Reserved Top Level DNS Names), the server at IP address 192.0.34.166 handles all of the following sites:
example.com
www.example.com
example.net
www.example.net
example.org
www.example.org
When a request is made, the data corresponding to the hostname requested is served to the user.
March 11, 2008
March 10, 2008
DOMAIN TESTING
Domain testing is the practice of a domain name registrant using the five-day "grace period" at the beginning of the registration of an ICANN-regulated second level domain to test the marketability of the domain. During this period, when a registration must be fully refunded by the domain registry, a cost-benefit analysis is conducted by the registrant on the viability of deriving income from advertisements being placed on the domain's web site.
Domains that are deemed "successes" and retained in registrant's portfolio often represent domains that were previously used and have since expired, misspellings of other popular sites, or generic terms that may receive type-in traffic. These domains are usually still active in search engines and other hyperlinks and therefore receive enough traffic such that advertising revenue exceeds the cost of the registration. The registrant may also derive revenue from eventual sale of the domain, at a premium, to a third party.
In January 2008, ICANN announced that the exemption on transaction costs (US$ 0.25) during the five-day grace period would be abandoned, which would effectively make the practice of domain tasting not viable.[1]
Domain tasting should not be confused with domain kiting, which is the process of deleting a domain name during the five-day grace period and immediately re-registering it for another five-day period. This process is repeated any number of times with the end result of having the domain registered without ever actually paying for it.
Domains that are deemed "successes" and retained in registrant's portfolio often represent domains that were previously used and have since expired, misspellings of other popular sites, or generic terms that may receive type-in traffic. These domains are usually still active in search engines and other hyperlinks and therefore receive enough traffic such that advertising revenue exceeds the cost of the registration. The registrant may also derive revenue from eventual sale of the domain, at a premium, to a third party.
In January 2008, ICANN announced that the exemption on transaction costs (US$ 0.25) during the five-day grace period would be abandoned, which would effectively make the practice of domain tasting not viable.[1]
Domain tasting should not be confused with domain kiting, which is the process of deleting a domain name during the five-day grace period and immediately re-registering it for another five-day period. This process is repeated any number of times with the end result of having the domain registered without ever actually paying for it.
Domain After Market Prices
Domain aftermarket prices and trends:
Domain name sales occurring in the aftermarket are frequently submitted to the DNJournal. The sales are listed weekly and include the top aftermarket resellers which include but are not limited to Sedo, Traffic (auctions), Afternic, NameJet, Moniker and private sales.
To date, and according to Guinness World Records and MSNBC, the most expensive domain name sales on record as of 2004 were: Business.com for $7.5 million in December 1999, AsSeenOnTv.com for $5.1 million in January 2000, Altavista.com for $3.3 million in August 1998, Wine.com for $2.9 million in September 1999, CreditCards.com for $2.75 million in July 2004, and Autos.com for $2.2 million in December 1999. [4]
The week ending January 27, 2008, DNJournal reported that CNN a cable news channel purchased iReport.com for $750,000. This signifies another turning point in domain name sales. This name has neither organic traffic, nor does it have a dictionary term alone. Instead it is a highly brandable domain name utilizing the second most popular prefix for a "dictionary" and commercial word.
Domain name sales occurring in the aftermarket are frequently submitted to the DNJournal. The sales are listed weekly and include the top aftermarket resellers which include but are not limited to Sedo, Traffic (auctions), Afternic, NameJet, Moniker and private sales.
To date, and according to Guinness World Records and MSNBC, the most expensive domain name sales on record as of 2004 were: Business.com for $7.5 million in December 1999, AsSeenOnTv.com for $5.1 million in January 2000, Altavista.com for $3.3 million in August 1998, Wine.com for $2.9 million in September 1999, CreditCards.com for $2.75 million in July 2004, and Autos.com for $2.2 million in December 1999. [4]
The week ending January 27, 2008, DNJournal reported that CNN a cable news channel purchased iReport.com for $750,000. This signifies another turning point in domain name sales. This name has neither organic traffic, nor does it have a dictionary term alone. Instead it is a highly brandable domain name utilizing the second most popular prefix for a "dictionary" and commercial word.
Resale Of Domain Names
RESALE OF DOMAIN NAMES:
The resale of previously registered domain names is known as the domain aftermarket.
Various factors influence the perceived value or market value of a domain name. They include 1)the natural or "organic" traffic that can be attributed to web surfers typing in a domain name in their web browser as opposed to doing a search for the site through a search engine. 2)Branding Opportunity. The ability to have a term recognized and easily recalled as a brand for a company or entity. 3)Re-sale value. The ability to spot trends and predict the value of a name based on it's length (short is preferred), clarity, and commercial use. The word loan is far more valuable than the word sunshine.
Generic domain names have sprung up in the last decade. Certain domains, especially those related to business, gambling, pornography, and other commercially lucrative fields of digital world trade have become very much in demand to corporations and entrepreneurs due to their importance in attracting clients.
The most expensive public sale of an Internet domain name to date, according to DNJournal, is porn.com which was sold in 2007 for $9.5 million cash.[citation needed]
There are disputes about the high values of domain names claimed and the actual cash prices of many sales such Business.com. Another high-priced domain name, sex.com, was stolen from its rightful owner by means of a forged transfer instruction via fax. During the height of the dot-com era, the domain was earning millions of dollars per month in advertising revenue from the large influx of visitors that arrived daily. The sex.com sale may have never been final as the domain is still with the previous owner. Also, that sale was not just a domain but an income stream, a web site, a domain name with customers and advertisers, etc. Two long-running U.S. lawsuits resulted, one against the thief and one against the domain registrar VeriSign [1]. In one of the cases, Kremen v. Network Solutions, the court found in favor of the plaintiff, leading to an unprecedented ruling that classified domain names as property, granting them the same legal protections. In 1999, Microsoft traded the name Bob.com with internet entrepreneur Bob Kerstein for the name Windows2000.com which was the name of their new operating system. [2]
One of the reasons for the value of domain names is that even without advertising or marketing, they attract clients seeking services and products who simply type in the generic name. This is known as Direct Navigation or Type-in Traffic. Furthermore, generic domain names such as movies.com (now owned by Disney) or Books.com (now owned by Barnes & Noble) are extremely easy for potential customers to remember, increasing the probability that they become repeat customers or regular clients. In the case of Movies.com, Disney has built a stand-alone portal featuring branded content. More and more large brands are beginning to employ a more comprehensive domain strategy featuring a portfolio of thousands of domains, rather than just one or two.
Although the current domain market is nowhere as strong as it was during the dot-com heyday, it remains strong and is currently experiencing solid growth again. [3] Annually tens of millions of dollars change hands due to the resale of domains. Large numbers of registered domain names lapse and are deleted each year. On average 25,000 domain names drop (are deleted) every day.
It is very important to remember that a domain (name, address) must be valued separately from the website (content, revenue) that it is used for. The high prices have usually been paid for the revenue that was generated from the website at the domain's address (URL.). The intrinsic value of a domain is the registration fee. It is difficult to appraise a current market value for a domain. The Fair Market Value of a domain can be anything from nearly nothing to millions of dollars. Factors involved may include previous sales data of similar domains, however a single letter difference can completely alter the value. The value of the domain (or any sum resp. division etc.) are usually added to the current or expected revenue from the web content (advertising, sales, etc.). The price of a domain (name + ext.) should not be confused with that of a website (content + revenue). An estimate by an appraiser is always the addition of what they would like a domain to be worth together with the effective/expected/desired revenue from the web content. Some people put value on the length of the SLD (name) and other people prefer description capability, but the shorter an SLD is, the less descriptive it can be. Also, if short is crucial, then the TLD (extension) should be short too. It is less realistic to get a domain like LL.travel or LL.mobi than a domain travel. LL or mobi. LL. This illustrates the relativity of domain value estimation. It can be safely put that the revenue of web (content) can be easily stated, but that the value of a domain (SLD.TLD aka name.ext) is a matter of opinion and preference. In the end, however, any sale depends on the expectations of the domain seller and the domain buyer.
A webmaster creating a new web site either buys the domain name directly from a domain name registrar, or indirectly from a domain name registrar through a domainer.
People who buy and sell domain names are known as domainers. People who sell value estimation services are known as appraisers.
The resale of previously registered domain names is known as the domain aftermarket.
Various factors influence the perceived value or market value of a domain name. They include 1)the natural or "organic" traffic that can be attributed to web surfers typing in a domain name in their web browser as opposed to doing a search for the site through a search engine. 2)Branding Opportunity. The ability to have a term recognized and easily recalled as a brand for a company or entity. 3)Re-sale value. The ability to spot trends and predict the value of a name based on it's length (short is preferred), clarity, and commercial use. The word loan is far more valuable than the word sunshine.
Generic domain names have sprung up in the last decade. Certain domains, especially those related to business, gambling, pornography, and other commercially lucrative fields of digital world trade have become very much in demand to corporations and entrepreneurs due to their importance in attracting clients.
The most expensive public sale of an Internet domain name to date, according to DNJournal, is porn.com which was sold in 2007 for $9.5 million cash.[citation needed]
There are disputes about the high values of domain names claimed and the actual cash prices of many sales such Business.com. Another high-priced domain name, sex.com, was stolen from its rightful owner by means of a forged transfer instruction via fax. During the height of the dot-com era, the domain was earning millions of dollars per month in advertising revenue from the large influx of visitors that arrived daily. The sex.com sale may have never been final as the domain is still with the previous owner. Also, that sale was not just a domain but an income stream, a web site, a domain name with customers and advertisers, etc. Two long-running U.S. lawsuits resulted, one against the thief and one against the domain registrar VeriSign [1]. In one of the cases, Kremen v. Network Solutions, the court found in favor of the plaintiff, leading to an unprecedented ruling that classified domain names as property, granting them the same legal protections. In 1999, Microsoft traded the name Bob.com with internet entrepreneur Bob Kerstein for the name Windows2000.com which was the name of their new operating system. [2]
One of the reasons for the value of domain names is that even without advertising or marketing, they attract clients seeking services and products who simply type in the generic name. This is known as Direct Navigation or Type-in Traffic. Furthermore, generic domain names such as movies.com (now owned by Disney) or Books.com (now owned by Barnes & Noble) are extremely easy for potential customers to remember, increasing the probability that they become repeat customers or regular clients. In the case of Movies.com, Disney has built a stand-alone portal featuring branded content. More and more large brands are beginning to employ a more comprehensive domain strategy featuring a portfolio of thousands of domains, rather than just one or two.
Although the current domain market is nowhere as strong as it was during the dot-com heyday, it remains strong and is currently experiencing solid growth again. [3] Annually tens of millions of dollars change hands due to the resale of domains. Large numbers of registered domain names lapse and are deleted each year. On average 25,000 domain names drop (are deleted) every day.
It is very important to remember that a domain (name, address) must be valued separately from the website (content, revenue) that it is used for. The high prices have usually been paid for the revenue that was generated from the website at the domain's address (URL.). The intrinsic value of a domain is the registration fee. It is difficult to appraise a current market value for a domain. The Fair Market Value of a domain can be anything from nearly nothing to millions of dollars. Factors involved may include previous sales data of similar domains, however a single letter difference can completely alter the value. The value of the domain (or any sum resp. division etc.) are usually added to the current or expected revenue from the web content (advertising, sales, etc.). The price of a domain (name + ext.) should not be confused with that of a website (content + revenue). An estimate by an appraiser is always the addition of what they would like a domain to be worth together with the effective/expected/desired revenue from the web content. Some people put value on the length of the SLD (name) and other people prefer description capability, but the shorter an SLD is, the less descriptive it can be. Also, if short is crucial, then the TLD (extension) should be short too. It is less realistic to get a domain like LL.travel or LL.mobi than a domain travel. LL or mobi. LL. This illustrates the relativity of domain value estimation. It can be safely put that the revenue of web (content) can be easily stated, but that the value of a domain (SLD.TLD aka name.ext) is a matter of opinion and preference. In the end, however, any sale depends on the expectations of the domain seller and the domain buyer.
A webmaster creating a new web site either buys the domain name directly from a domain name registrar, or indirectly from a domain name registrar through a domainer.
People who buy and sell domain names are known as domainers. People who sell value estimation services are known as appraisers.
Web Hosting
A web hosting service is a type of Internet hosting service that allows individuals and organizations to provide their own
websites accessible via the World Wide Web. Web hosts are companies that provide space on a server they own for use by their
clients as well as providing Internet connectivity, typically in a data center. Web hosts can also provide data center space
and connectivity to the Internet for servers they do not own to be located in their data center, called colocation
SERVICE SCOPE:
The scopes of hosting services vary widely. The most basic is webpage and small-scale file hosting, where files can be
uploaded via File Transfer Protocol (FTP) or a Web interface. The files are usually delivered to the Web "as is" or with
little processing. Many Internet service providers (ISPs) offer this service free to their subscribers. People can also
obtain Web page hosting from other, alternative service providers. Personal web site hosting is typically free,
advertisement-sponsored, or cheap. Business web site hosting often has a higher expense.
Single page hosting is generally sufficient only for personal web pages. A complex site calls for a more comprehensive
package that provides database support and application development platforms (e.g. PHP, Java, Ruby on Rails, and ASP.NET).
These facilities allow the customers to write or install scripts for applications like forums and content management. For
e-commerce, SSL is also required.
The host may also provide an interface or control panel for managing the Web server and installing scripts as well as other
services like e-mail. Some hosts specialize in certain software or services (e.g. e-commerce). They are commonly used by
larger companies to outsource network infrastructure to a hosting company. To find a web hosting company, there are
searchable directories that can be used. One must be extremely careful when searching for a new company because many of the
people promoting service providers are actually affiliates and the reviews are biased.
Hosting reliability and uptime
Multiple racks of servers, and how a datacenter commonly looks.
Multiple racks of servers, and how a datacenter commonly looks.
Hosting uptime refers to the percentage of time the host is accessible via the internet. Many providers state that they aim
for a 99.9% uptime, but there may be server restarts and planned (or unplanned) maintenance in any hosting environment.
A common claim from the popular hosting providers is '99% or 99.9% server uptime' but this often refers only to a server
being powered on and doesn't account for network downtime. Real downtime can potentially be larger than the percentage
guaranteed by the provider. Many providers tie uptime, and accessibility, into their own Service Level Agreement, or SLA.
SLAs may or may not include refunds, or reduced costs if performance goals are not met.
[edit] Types of hosting
A typical server "cage," commonly seen in colocation centres.
A typical server "cage," commonly seen in colocation centres.
Internet hosting services can run Web servers; see Internet hosting services.
Hosting services limited to the Web:
* Free web hosting service: is free, (sometimes) advertisement-supported web hosting, and is often limited when compared
to paid hosting.
* Shared web hosting service: one's Web site is placed on the same server as many other sites, ranging from a few to
hundreds or thousands. Typically, all domains may share a common pool of server resources, such as RAM and the CPU. A shared
website may be hosted with a reseller.
* Reseller web hosting: allows clients to become web hosts themselves. Resellers could function, for individual domains,
under any combination of these listed types of hosting, depending on who they are affiliated with as a provider. Resellers'
accounts may vary tremendously in size: they may have their own virtual dedicated server to a colocated server.
* Virtual Dedicated Server: dividing a server into virtual servers, where each user feels like they're on their own
dedicated server, but they're actually sharing a server with many other users. The users may have root access to their own
virtual space. This is also known as a virtual private server or VPS.
* Dedicated hosting service: the user gets his or her own Web server and gains full control over it (root access for
Linux/administrator access for Windows); however, the user typically does not own the server. Another type of Dedicated
hosting is Self-Managed or Unmanaged. This is usually the least expensive for Dedicated plans. The user has full
administrative access to the box, which means the client is responsible for the security and maintenance of his own dedicated
box.
* Managed hosting service: the user gets his or her own Web server but is not allowed full control over it (root access
for Linux/administrator access for Windows); however, they are allowed to manage their data via FTP or other remote
management tools. The user is disallowed full control so that the provider can guarantee quality of service by not allowing
the user to modify the server or potentially create configuration problems. The user typically does not own the server. The
server is leased to the client.
* Colocation web hosting service: similar to the dedicated web hosting service, but the user owns the colo server; the
hosting company provides physical space that the server takes up and takes care of the server. This is the most powerful and
expensive type of the web hosting service. In most cases, the colocation provider may provide little to no support directly
for their client's machine, providing only the electrical, Internet access, and storage facilities for the server. In most
cases for colo, the client would have his own administrator visit the data center on site to do any hardware upgrades or
changes.
* Clustered hosting: having multiple servers hosting the same content for better resource utilization.
* Grid hosting : this form of distributed hosting is when a server cluster acts like a grid and is composed of multiple
nodes.
* Home server: usually a single machine placed in a private residence can be used to host one or more websites from a
usually consumer-grade broadband connection. These can be purpose-built machines or more commonly old PC's.
Some ISP's actively attempt to block these servers by disallowing incoming requests to TCP port 80 of the user's connection
and by refusing to provide static IP addresses.
Some specific types of hosting provided by web host service providers:
* File hosting service: hosts not web pages but files
* Image hosting service
* Video hosting service
* Blog hosting service
* One-click hosting
* Shopping cart software
OBTAINING HOSTING:
Web hosting is often provided as part of a general Internet access plan; there are many free and paid providers offering
these services.
A customer needs to evaluate the requirements of the application to choose what kind of hosting to use. Such considerations
include database server software, scripting software, and operating system. Most hosting providers provide Linux-based web
hosting which offers a wide range of different software. A typical configuration for a Linux server is the LAMP platform:
Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP/Perl/Python. The webhosting client may want to have other services, such as email for their
business domain, databases or multi-media services for streaming media. A customer may also choose Windows for its hosting
platform. The customer still can choose from PHP, Perl, and Python but may also use ASP .Net or Classic ASP.
Web hosting packages often include a Web Content Management System, so the end-user doesn't have to worry about the more
technical aspects.
One may also search the Internet to find active webhosting message boards that may provide feedback on what type of
webhosting company may suit his/her needs.
websites accessible via the World Wide Web. Web hosts are companies that provide space on a server they own for use by their
clients as well as providing Internet connectivity, typically in a data center. Web hosts can also provide data center space
and connectivity to the Internet for servers they do not own to be located in their data center, called colocation
SERVICE SCOPE:
The scopes of hosting services vary widely. The most basic is webpage and small-scale file hosting, where files can be
uploaded via File Transfer Protocol (FTP) or a Web interface. The files are usually delivered to the Web "as is" or with
little processing. Many Internet service providers (ISPs) offer this service free to their subscribers. People can also
obtain Web page hosting from other, alternative service providers. Personal web site hosting is typically free,
advertisement-sponsored, or cheap. Business web site hosting often has a higher expense.
Single page hosting is generally sufficient only for personal web pages. A complex site calls for a more comprehensive
package that provides database support and application development platforms (e.g. PHP, Java, Ruby on Rails, and ASP.NET).
These facilities allow the customers to write or install scripts for applications like forums and content management. For
e-commerce, SSL is also required.
The host may also provide an interface or control panel for managing the Web server and installing scripts as well as other
services like e-mail. Some hosts specialize in certain software or services (e.g. e-commerce). They are commonly used by
larger companies to outsource network infrastructure to a hosting company. To find a web hosting company, there are
searchable directories that can be used. One must be extremely careful when searching for a new company because many of the
people promoting service providers are actually affiliates and the reviews are biased.
Hosting reliability and uptime
Multiple racks of servers, and how a datacenter commonly looks.
Multiple racks of servers, and how a datacenter commonly looks.
Hosting uptime refers to the percentage of time the host is accessible via the internet. Many providers state that they aim
for a 99.9% uptime, but there may be server restarts and planned (or unplanned) maintenance in any hosting environment.
A common claim from the popular hosting providers is '99% or 99.9% server uptime' but this often refers only to a server
being powered on and doesn't account for network downtime. Real downtime can potentially be larger than the percentage
guaranteed by the provider. Many providers tie uptime, and accessibility, into their own Service Level Agreement, or SLA.
SLAs may or may not include refunds, or reduced costs if performance goals are not met.
[edit] Types of hosting
A typical server "cage," commonly seen in colocation centres.
A typical server "cage," commonly seen in colocation centres.
Internet hosting services can run Web servers; see Internet hosting services.
Hosting services limited to the Web:
* Free web hosting service: is free, (sometimes) advertisement-supported web hosting, and is often limited when compared
to paid hosting.
* Shared web hosting service: one's Web site is placed on the same server as many other sites, ranging from a few to
hundreds or thousands. Typically, all domains may share a common pool of server resources, such as RAM and the CPU. A shared
website may be hosted with a reseller.
* Reseller web hosting: allows clients to become web hosts themselves. Resellers could function, for individual domains,
under any combination of these listed types of hosting, depending on who they are affiliated with as a provider. Resellers'
accounts may vary tremendously in size: they may have their own virtual dedicated server to a colocated server.
* Virtual Dedicated Server: dividing a server into virtual servers, where each user feels like they're on their own
dedicated server, but they're actually sharing a server with many other users. The users may have root access to their own
virtual space. This is also known as a virtual private server or VPS.
* Dedicated hosting service: the user gets his or her own Web server and gains full control over it (root access for
Linux/administrator access for Windows); however, the user typically does not own the server. Another type of Dedicated
hosting is Self-Managed or Unmanaged. This is usually the least expensive for Dedicated plans. The user has full
administrative access to the box, which means the client is responsible for the security and maintenance of his own dedicated
box.
* Managed hosting service: the user gets his or her own Web server but is not allowed full control over it (root access
for Linux/administrator access for Windows); however, they are allowed to manage their data via FTP or other remote
management tools. The user is disallowed full control so that the provider can guarantee quality of service by not allowing
the user to modify the server or potentially create configuration problems. The user typically does not own the server. The
server is leased to the client.
* Colocation web hosting service: similar to the dedicated web hosting service, but the user owns the colo server; the
hosting company provides physical space that the server takes up and takes care of the server. This is the most powerful and
expensive type of the web hosting service. In most cases, the colocation provider may provide little to no support directly
for their client's machine, providing only the electrical, Internet access, and storage facilities for the server. In most
cases for colo, the client would have his own administrator visit the data center on site to do any hardware upgrades or
changes.
* Clustered hosting: having multiple servers hosting the same content for better resource utilization.
* Grid hosting : this form of distributed hosting is when a server cluster acts like a grid and is composed of multiple
nodes.
* Home server: usually a single machine placed in a private residence can be used to host one or more websites from a
usually consumer-grade broadband connection. These can be purpose-built machines or more commonly old PC's.
Some ISP's actively attempt to block these servers by disallowing incoming requests to TCP port 80 of the user's connection
and by refusing to provide static IP addresses.
Some specific types of hosting provided by web host service providers:
* File hosting service: hosts not web pages but files
* Image hosting service
* Video hosting service
* Blog hosting service
* One-click hosting
* Shopping cart software
OBTAINING HOSTING:
Web hosting is often provided as part of a general Internet access plan; there are many free and paid providers offering
these services.
A customer needs to evaluate the requirements of the application to choose what kind of hosting to use. Such considerations
include database server software, scripting software, and operating system. Most hosting providers provide Linux-based web
hosting which offers a wide range of different software. A typical configuration for a Linux server is the LAMP platform:
Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP/Perl/Python. The webhosting client may want to have other services, such as email for their
business domain, databases or multi-media services for streaming media. A customer may also choose Windows for its hosting
platform. The customer still can choose from PHP, Perl, and Python but may also use ASP .Net or Classic ASP.
Web hosting packages often include a Web Content Management System, so the end-user doesn't have to worry about the more
technical aspects.
One may also search the Internet to find active webhosting message boards that may provide feedback on what type of
webhosting company may suit his/her needs.
March 8, 2008
Uses and Abuses Of Web Hosting
As domain names became attractive to marketers, rather than just the technical audience for which they were originally intended, they began to be used in manners that in many cases did not fit in their intended structure. As originally planned, the structure of domain names followed a strict hierarchy in which the top level domain indicated the type of organization (commercial, governmental, etc.), and addresses would be nested down to third, fourth, or further levels to express complex structures, where, for instance, branches, departments, and subsidiaries of a parent organization would have addresses which were subdomains of the parent domain. Also, hostnames were intended to correspond to actual physical machines on the network, generally with only one name per machine.
However, once the World Wide Web became popular, site operators frequently wished to have memorable addresses, regardless of whether they fit properly in the structure; thus, since the .com domain was the most popular and memorable, even noncommercial sites would often get addresses under it, and sites of all sorts wished to have second-level domain registrations even if they were parts of a larger entity where a logical subdomain would have made sense (e.g., abcnews.com instead of news.abc.com). A Web site found at will often be advertised without the "http://", and in most cases can be reached by just entering "example.org" into a Web browser. In the case of a .com, the Web site can sometimes be reached by just entering "example" (depending on browser versions and configuration settings, which vary in how they interpret incomplete addresses).
The popularity of domain names also led to uses which were regarded as abusive by established companies with trademark rights; this was known as cybersquatting, in which somebody took a name that resembled a trademark in order to profit from traffic to that address. To combat this, various laws and policies were enacted to allow abusive registrations to be forcibly transferred, but these were sometimes themselves abused by overzealous companies committing reverse domain hijacking against domain users who had legitimate grounds to hold their names, such as their being generic words as well as trademarks in a particular context, or their use in the context of fan or protest sites with free speech rights of their own.
Laws that specifically address domain name conflicts include the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act in the United States and the Trademarks Act, 1999, in India. Alternatively, domain registrants are bound by contract under the UDRP to comply with mandatory arbitration proceedings should someone challenge their ownership of the domain name.
However, once the World Wide Web became popular, site operators frequently wished to have memorable addresses, regardless of whether they fit properly in the structure; thus, since the .com domain was the most popular and memorable, even noncommercial sites would often get addresses under it, and sites of all sorts wished to have second-level domain registrations even if they were parts of a larger entity where a logical subdomain would have made sense (e.g., abcnews.com instead of news.abc.com). A Web site found at will often be advertised without the "http://", and in most cases can be reached by just entering "example.org" into a Web browser. In the case of a .com, the Web site can sometimes be reached by just entering "example" (depending on browser versions and configuration settings, which vary in how they interpret incomplete addresses).
The popularity of domain names also led to uses which were regarded as abusive by established companies with trademark rights; this was known as cybersquatting, in which somebody took a name that resembled a trademark in order to profit from traffic to that address. To combat this, various laws and policies were enacted to allow abusive registrations to be forcibly transferred, but these were sometimes themselves abused by overzealous companies committing reverse domain hijacking against domain users who had legitimate grounds to hold their names, such as their being generic words as well as trademarks in a particular context, or their use in the context of fan or protest sites with free speech rights of their own.
Laws that specifically address domain name conflicts include the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act in the United States and the Trademarks Act, 1999, in India. Alternatively, domain registrants are bound by contract under the UDRP to comply with mandatory arbitration proceedings should someone challenge their ownership of the domain name.
What is Domain?
The term domain name has multiple related meanings
* A name that identifies a computer or computers on the Internet. These names appear as a component of a Web site's URL, e.g. en.wikipedia.org. This type of domain name is also called a hostname.
* The product that domain name registrars provide to their customers. These names are often called registered domain names.
* Names used for other purposes in the Domain Name System (DNS), for example the special name which follows the @ sign in an email address, or the Top-level domain names like .com, or the names used by the Session Initiation Protocol (VoIP), or DomainKeys.
* They are sometimes colloquially (and incorrectly) referred to by marketers as "web addresses".
* A name that identifies a computer or computers on the Internet. These names appear as a component of a Web site's URL, e.g. en.wikipedia.org. This type of domain name is also called a hostname.
* The product that domain name registrars provide to their customers. These names are often called registered domain names.
* Names used for other purposes in the Domain Name System (DNS), for example the special name which follows the @ sign in an email address, or the Top-level domain names like .com, or the names used by the Session Initiation Protocol (VoIP), or DomainKeys.
* They are sometimes colloquially (and incorrectly) referred to by marketers as "web addresses".
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