Just
as actual businesses have mailing addresses,
websites need to have a web address. The best
kind of address you can have requires having
your own domain name, yourcompany.com. The most
common web address then looks like "http://www.yourcompany.com",
or, as it is more usually abbreviated, "www.yourcompany.com".
(Your browser will automatically fill in the
"http://" part of the web address.)
In
order to "obtain" your own domain name, you need
to register it with the Internic. The Internic
is the government organization that maintains a
database of all domain names on the Web. It is
something like the Post Office. When someone
types in your web address, www.yourcompany.com,
part of the process of finding your website
involves consulting the Internic's database, to
figure out exactly where that domain name
resides
You
cannot register a domain name without having a
host computer where the domain name will reside
already selected. You need to know the primary
host name and the corresponding IP address as
well as the secondary host name and its
corresponding IP address.
The
Internic needs to know the host computer on
which your website is located in order for its
database to direct someone to the right page
when they type in your web address. The Internic
also needs to be able to find your website on
that host computer. That is the job of domain
name set-up on the host computer. This is a
one-time service done by the hosting service,
prior to actual hosting.
