Setting Up Domain Name Servers

Setting Up Domain Name Servers

Posted by manjonka under Domain Name, Web Hosting

Setting up domain name servers (DNS) is the last step before having your site live on the web. A name server translates your domain name (e.g. web-hosting-reference.com) into the corresponding IP address used by computers to locate your website on the internet. An IP address is just a set of number such as 125.65.86.23 that each computer is assigned in any network including the internet.

It’s allows computers throughout the internet to identify one another. Each computer has a unique IP address assigned by your internet service provider (ISP) or by your router in your local network at home. You can learn more extensively about the IP address by doing a quick search on the web.

Ok, back to the domain name server setup.

When you open an account with a web hosting company, the web server where you web site is hosted is associated by at least 2 name servers. Generally that information is sent to you by email once your web hosting account is ready to use.  The domain name servers’ information is generally in the format ns1.nameserver.com and ns2.nameserver.com. You might encounter web hosting name servers starting with dns1 and dns2.

If your domain name is registered with a different company than your web hosting, then you will have to manually setup the DNS information. Just log into your domain name registration account to locate the section where you can update the domain name servers’ information.

Fill out the information required then commit your changes. Once the DNS information is saved it generally takes from a few minutes to 24 hours for the new domain name servers’ information to propagate throughout all domain name servers on the internet. Yes domain name servers are actually computer servers just like web hosting servers.

A domain name server’s purpose is to store all registered domain names in the internet and match each to an IP address that points to the web host server. So here is in a summary how things works when you click or enter a web site address in your web browser:

• Your web browser connects to a name server to retrieve the IP address associated with that domain name. This process is done just once the first page you visit on that web site
• Once that IP address is retrieved, your web browser will store for subsequent web requests when you are surfing that web site.

So in reality a domain name server is a directory/database for domain names where each domain is matched with a hosting server IP address of that website.

If on the other hand your web site is hosted by the same company your domain name registered with then they is no need on your part to setup the name servers. It’s done automatically for you when your web hosting account is opened. You can therefore start transferring your website files in no time.

Updating name servers is a very simple process that does not really require any technical knowledge. You just take the information given to you by your web hosting company then go to your domain name registration account to change those parameters.