What is a domain name and how does it work? Every computer on the public Internet has a unique numeric address — similar to the uniqueness of a telephone number — which is a string of numbers that are hard for most people to remember. This series of numbers is called the “IP address.”

Understanding Domain Names or http://www.igatewayms.com/, which is easier to remember? At the request of Jon PostelPaul Mockapetris designed the Domain Name System at the University of California, Irvine in 1983. DNS is the short term for the Domain Name System and today's norm for all public Internet access. When we speak of the open Internet, we are talking about the World Wide Web or WWW for short. In the example above, “igatewayms.com” is the domain name. The “www.” part identifies to your browser that you are looking for the World Wide Web interface for that domain name.

Look at your contact list on your phone. You probably see nothing but names of people you know, maybe some people you do not know. Each name links to a specific number, so you find out when you press that name your phone dials the number, and you get that person. The DNS does the same thing by assigning a familiar name - the domain name - with an IP address (unique numeric number).

The domain name system also provides a way to contact individuals and businesses with electronic communications and email. As with your phone when sending a text message to an individual, the DNS enables your email to reach the intended recipient (customerservice@igatewayms.com, for example) and not someone else with a similar domain name.

Other similarities with names and numbers are, in most cases, the names do not change but the numbers can. So your friend just changed their phone number, and they tell you about it; all you do is update your contact list for them. The sad part with this is, your friend has to tell everyone - at least the ones in which they want to stay in touch.

The same applies to the domain name system. The real thing with the DNS, say we, http://igatewayms.com, are your friend, and we change our IP address, we do not need to tell you because we update one record, the DNS record, and it will truncate through the web so you can still get in touch with us. DNS records change mainly in part to server migration, or the business or person moved to another location.

A domain name remains unchanged even if a website transfers to another host computer or server for the reason that the DNS can be told to point an existing domain name to a new IP address. Just like a household or business moving its location—the family or business name stays the same, even if the street address changes.

So all in all, which would you rather remember, names or numbers?

If you have found this information useful or know someone who wishes to expand their knowledge of domains names, please share. Thank you -

Sunday, October 1, 2017

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