Hosting and Domain: Key Differences and Interactions

Domain and hosting: what is the difference between them?

The Internet is a tool not only for searching for information, entertainment or communication, but also for carrying out commercial activities, running a business. It is impossible to imagine a modern successful company that would not have its own website. It is the website that helps to expand the target audience, strengthen the authority of the organization, increase the number of real requests, sales and orders.

Domain and hosting are concepts that are inextricably linked with the site. What is hidden behind these terms? What are the differences?

A brief analysis

First, we should briefly consider both definitions. Hosting is a special service that involves the registration of the lease of computing power, which must be constantly available, can be used to store various files, from texts to high-resolution video, launch programs and applications.

A domain name is a set of alphabetic, numeric, and graphic symbols that allows the user to find the desired site.

What is a domain?

Now we need to get acquainted with the terms in more detail. So, a domain is a unique address that allows you to accurately identify a network resource. It functions according to the following algorithm:

• The user enters a known name of a network resource in the address bar.
• The browser sends a request to the domain name system, DNS.
• The system determines which actual IP address the name corresponds to.
• If the search result is positive, it is sent to the browser to open the searched pages.

Instead of a domain name, you can enter a specific IP in the address bar, however, this option is used extremely rarely. Combinations of many numbers and other symbols separated by colons and periods are very difficult to remember, unlike short names that fully reflect the specifics and affiliation of the network resource.

Domain Classification

Domains are represented by many classes, which must be taken into account when choosing, for 100% compliance with the site, its focus, informational, entertainment or commercial. The main categories are as follows:

• Top-level. TLD. Global, for example, “.com” or “.net”.
• Top-level with a state identifier, ccTLD. The identifier provides a link to a specific location or country, for example, for Russia it is “.ru” or the Cyrillic “.рф”, for Kazakhstan – “.kz”, for Uzbekistan – “.uz”, Belarus – “.by”.
• Top-level, general, gTLD. There is no specific geographic link, as examples we can consider the previously mentioned “.net” and “.com”.
• Top-level, new, NTLD. They first appeared only in 2012, during the period of active commercialization of the Internet, the emergence of numerous online stores. This group includes, for example, the domains “.shop”.

There are also second-level domains located before the dot, pointing directly to the network resource. For example, in the name “test.uz”, “test” is the second level, and “.uz” is the first. You can come up with them yourself, guided by the specifics of the site, ease of memorization, writing and other points.

Domain registration is carried out by authorized enterprises that have the appropriate licenses. It can be carried out by both private individuals and legal entities, it is enough to pay for the service and provide the relevant documents, be it a passport, papers confirming the fact of company registration.

What is hosting?

Of course, a domain alone is not enough for the effective, stable operation of a website. You need hosting, a place where all the files will be stored, text, graphic, sound. As a rule, hosting is rented from a provider, an organization that provides the relevant service. Large companies, of course, can use not rented, but their own hardware capacity, equip entire server rooms, however, this approach requires significant material investments, the involvement of specialists who will monitor the operation of the equipment, promptly record and eliminate failures.

Rented hosting eliminates such problems. The tenant only needs to pay for the service on time in accordance with the tariff plan, and all other issues are the responsibility of the provider, it is he who solves technical problems, invests in modernization, repair of servers and computers, if necessary.

Classification of hosting

Hostings can be classified by various indicators. For example, from the point of view of specification, they can be focused on storing large information arrays, up to a database, files of various types, from texts to 4K video, ensuring the operation of gaming and mail servers.

The most popular, however, are hostings that host websites. They are represented by the following types:

• General. The most common format, most convenient for tenants. The equipment is fine-tuned and debugged to the smallest detail, modern software is used. The only negative point is that all the sites being served are hosted on one server, which, in theory, can lead to performance issues and the collapse of many network resources in the event of a hardware failure. However, with reliable providers, such risks are minimized; they use proven technology and often provide backup functions.
• VPS. The client interacts with the software and hardware themselves, can choose the most convenient and understandable operating system, activate the necessary functions and disable unnecessary ones, download information for long-term or short-term storage. In fact, however, these resources are classified as virtual, which gives the provider maximum flexibility in distributing capacities, allows them to be used at 100%, and optimize costs.
• VDS. Dedicated server. The client is given an entire server, which he uses alone, without virtualization or other reservations. Of course, the hardware capacities remain rented, not registered as property, but the format is maximally efficient and is suitable for hosting even large websites, catalogs, online stores, where information will have to be updated regularly.
• Colocation. The format when the client himself buys the server equipment, registers it as property, however, places it not on his premises, but on the territory of the provider, who must ensure uninterrupted power supply, stable operation, security, timely maintenance. Of course, all these services also imply payment.
• Cloud. In fact, hostings of this category can be called modified versions of VPS. VPS implies optimization of the hardware by the owner to reduce costs, “cloud” – maximum variability, if necessary, the allocated capacity can always be increased to improve performance. Cloud hosting can successfully handle not only small projects, but also large sites.

Hosting management

When choosing a hosting, you need to pay attention to the system on which the management is built, which determines the ease of interaction, the arsenal of available functions, and variability. The following solutions are available:

• On the UNIX or Linux kernel. The main advantage is that the operating systems are free. Despite this distribution format, they are functional, productive and safe, resistant to network attacks, and support backup of information.
• Windows. Server versions of the operating system from Microsoft are paid, however, this does not affect their popularity. Many users choose them for their familiar interface, stability and efficiency of working with large information arrays, and a high level of security.
• CMS systems. There are many of them. If you need to quickly, without unnecessary problems and efforts, place a small site on the hosting, it is worth using CMS, fortunately, among them there are also free versions with multifunctional, at the same time, intuitive control panels. They are appropriate when working with large sites, but it is better to choose a paid option.

Recommendations for selection

When choosing a domain and hosting, determining which provider to contact for registration of rent, you should be guided by several criteria:

• Location of data centers. For sites focused on Russian-speaking audiences, data centers located in the Russian Federation or the CIS countries are optimal, for the whole world - in Europe or the USA.
• Reputation. The longer the provider has been operating on the market, the wider its audience, the better. Large organizations value their clients and maintain the high status they have achieved.
• Capabilities and capacities. You need to immediately determine the specifics of the site being hosted, its traffic and other details so that the hosting performance is sufficient for the correct operation of all functions.
• Price. An outright pursuit of cheapness is a bad decision. High-quality services always imply appropriate payment, so it is more rational to focus on average market values.

Summing up

A domain and hosting are different concepts, however, they always work in conjunction with each other. Only with combined use will it be possible to create a site that would be stable, informative, without loading problems and vulnerabilities that reduce the level of security.

A domain name is an address that the user will have to enter in the appropriate line of the browser to open the desired page, while hosting is a complex of software and hardware capacities, where all data related to the site is stored, operations are performed to open, protect, and implement functions available to the visitor.

As an example of comparison, we can consider a residential building. In this case, hosting is the building itself, with all its communications, engineering systems, and the domain name is an address plate with the house number and street name.

Author of the article:

Editor-in-Chief

Danaev Almaz