Domains, DNS, Hosting, and Emails

What are the parts you need to make a website work?

 

Domain Name

Every website needs a domain.

The domain, or ‘domain name’ is the ‘address’ of the website, what users type into their browser, and what you’ll print on your business cards.

For example, the domain of this website is “tigerfinch.com”.

Domains live with a registrar, and must be paid for each year.

If we are looking after your domain for you, we’ll transfer it to our registrar, ensure it remains registered, and invoice you for it each year.

Hosting

Every website needs hosting.

Hosting is the server (computer) which stores the website. This is also called a webserver.

The webserver provides storage for the website (for files and databases), and runs the software which makes the website work (e.g. WordPress).

Hosting must be paid for each year.

If we are providing hosting for you, we’ll store your website on our server, usually provide some basic support and maintenance, and invoice you for it each year.

Website

The website is the software and files which live on the hosting.

It includes the words and images on the website.

Most websites also have some software which lives on the server, and provides an interface to edit the website, and makes sure that your words and images come together correctly. This is called a CMS (Content Management System).

Most sites we build are using WordPress, which is the most common Content Management System in use.

DNS

Every domain needs DNS.

DNS (Domain Name Server) is the information which tells people where the hosting is for your domain. It is like an address book for the internet.

When you visit ‘tigerfinch.com’ in your browser, your browser first looks up the DNS for ‘tigerfinch.com’ so it knows which server to go to to find your website.

It also tells email systems which server they should send emails to if they want to email you.

It can also store other information about your website and domain.

DNS is usually provided free with a domain or hosting.

If we are providing DNS for you, we usually do this via the hosting we are providing. We will take care of updates for you. We do not invoice separately for DNS.

Email

If you want to send and receive emails @yourdomain, you will need an email server.

Your email server can be the same server as hosts the website, or it can be a separate server, for example if you want to use Office365 or gmail for your emails.

If we are providing email services for you, your emails will be hosted on the webserver. We usually include this in the hosting costs.