Newbie - Want an understanding of IP & domain configuration

gavinokane · #1 (**permalink**) 02-03-09, 08:05

Hi,

I've got a Windows VPS package and I had someone configure it for me in the past and have two domains hosted. That person no longer works for me an I'm trying to get to grips with it myself.

On a specific note I want to host a third domain; do I need to "buy" another IP address for my package, or can it somehow piggy back on the IPs that I have.

On a general note I don't understand the relationship between DNS, IP addresses, domains and how they are all tied in together to make it all work. Is there any recommended reading or indeed should I just deal with it all in questions in this thread?

Much appreciated.
Gavin

BodShane · #2 (**permalink**) 02-03-09, 18:36

Hello Gavin,

Thanks for contacting BODHost

You do not need to purchase new IP addresses to host the third domain name. All you have to do is run the domain from the existing IP addresses and that's all. IPs, Domains, DNS's are all inter-related.

FQDN's ( Fully-Qualified Domain Names ) are setup on IP addresses and DNS's are required to run those domains. Nameservers are basically name-service protocols and it maps hosts to identify IP addresses.

Hope that helps!

Regards,

Shane Phillips

php_rules · #3 (**permalink**) 02-04-09, 06:20

Where I understand what Shane is saying (I am fluent in nerd), others might not so i'm going to try to explain it in english =)

IP addresses (the number of the server) can host multiple domains - you can have 500 websites running on one machine.
DNS is the way that your browser (or computer) finds the IP adddress of the website you just typed in.
As long as the DNS entries are pointing at the correct server to resolve your domain name and your apache is setup properly then it just works =)
there are loads of places you can get more info - just do a google search for 'internet protocol tutorial' it can get pretty intense though!

BodShane · #4 (**permalink**) 02-04-09, 11:30

hehe...sure...:dancing:

You can also view the following link for better understanding of DNS's :

Domain Nameservers

Regards,

Shane Phillips

Christina · #5 (**permalink**) 02-04-09, 11:55

Hello Gavin,

An IP address is a number that is easy for computers to use and DNS assigns human-readable names to these IP addresses, which easy for us to remember, but this have to be looked up and translated before a computer can use them.

Example:
"www.bodhost.com" would be a DNS-name and " 69.65.11.213" is an IP-address.

carl owen · #6 (**permalink**) 02-04-09, 12:33

DNS ( Domain Name Servers ) are responsible for pointing your domain name to the IP address i.e. the server where you have your website. If you signup for your hosting package you will receive the DNS ( Domain Name Server ) Details and you can then update the DNS of your domain name.

Once you update the DNS of your domain name, your domain name will point the IP address of the server. DNS play a very important role in the process called Resolving. You can also have Private DNS to resolve your website. But Private DNS do not have any special advantage. The only advantage you will have with Private DNS is the look. Private DNS is generally used by Resellers.

Lazlo90 · #7 (**permalink**) 02-04-09, 18:40

For SEO purposes, it might be better to buy another IP for that domain as it will make it look like as if the site is hosted on a different server, since it will have a different IP. If the IPs are shared, the site will still work but if you link to one site from the other, it probably won't benefit much as the search engine will pick up that link as if it's coming from the same site due to the shared IP address. Or at least that's what I've heard.

gavinokane · #8 (**permalink**) 02-14-09, 03:42

Thanks everyone for your help. Much appreciated...i've managed to get over my first two hurdles now....

1. I have set up the nameservers with the company that I have the domain registered with :-)

2. I have created the domain on the VPS using plesk.

Problem now...

I have 3 domains sharing the one IP address. with all three pointing to that same nameserver (i didn't set up the other 2 domains so i'm assuming this). There are now 3 virtual directories in IIS. What is resolving the connection between the domain and the virtual directory it should go to for the webpages.

This is the domain:

funnyoldgame.com (i can't post a hyperlink as i have to have had more than 5 posts on this forum to do so)

and you can see the error I get. If there is a good tutorial you can point me to i'd be happy with that.

Thanks again for your support.

Regards
Gavin

php_rules · #9 (**permalink**) 02-14-09, 07:53

, it works (well, the dns bit does at least!!) what you now need to do is to setup virtual hosts - this will make your webserver to point to directories that will contain each site.
Basically you need to setup vhosts in your apache configuration - I'm not sure how you would do this in plesk, as I always edit my apache.conf by hand, but there is a ton of documentation available on Parallel's plesk

gavinokane · #10 (**permalink**) 02-14-09, 18:00

Thanks for your help. It's a windows VPS so no Apache setup :-)

I discovered the problem was that I had manually created a Virtual Directory on IIS before creating the domain through Plesk. This resulted in two virtual directories in IIS with same name and IIS stopped them running due to this conflict.

I simply deleted the one I created and restarted IIS. It's working now...just need to put up the webpages.

Thanks everyone for thier input to this thread.

Regards
Gavin

johnny · #11 (**permalink**) 02-20-09, 10:14

If you only have one domain name, I am not sure if there is a need for multiple ip addresses. However, I am sure the admins here know best.

carl owen · #12 (**permalink**) 02-20-09, 12:03

You can have multiple IP addresses if you have multiple DNS ( Domain name servers ) for the same Domain name. Otherwise, you will not need multiple IP addresses for a single Domain name.

BodShane · #13 (**permalink**) 02-20-09, 14:55

Well, you can assign 2 or more nameservers easily for one domain name. However, your domain registrar should provide you with the option to assign more no. of nameservers. However, it is not necessary that you have to assign multiple nameservers to one domain.

bluetrance05 · #14 (**permalink**) 03-02-09, 08:41

DNS means Domain Name Server, it's a master server comprising big databases linking a domain name to a particular IP address.
If you type a URL in your favorite browser, the request is sent to the DNS to find the IP address for the domain name, then the IP address communicates with the DNS at the domain's IP address. IP address is a numerical address that is translated to a domain name. For example, you were in the mood to browse a site, you thought you want to visit Yahoo homepage, then you type "http://yahoo.com" in the URL browser instead of typing the Yahoo's IP address "69.147.114.210" in the URL browser.

php_rules · #15 (**permalink**) 03-02-09, 11:49

If you want to know more about DNS (Domain name service) then check out some of the RFS's (requests for comments) here DNS related RFCs
there are loads of pages with everything to do with the DNS system.

carl owen · #16 (**permalink**) 03-02-09, 16:12

A Domain name server basically points your domain name to the server on which your site is hosted. If your website is hosted on the server which has an IP address 1.1.1.1 and your domain name is requested then the nameserver which can be ns1.yourdomain.com will receive the request and point the request to your server which has the IP address 1.1.1.1. Hence, your website will be displayed on the requester's screen.

Windac · #17 (**permalink**) 03-02-09, 19:18

I'm not sure if your problem has been resolved ( It looks like it has). But here is my two cents:

Isn't it possible to have a domain to direct to a certain IP and then the domain would switch to the "Main" domain name? There certain sites that have .com .ca .org .net and they all end up as .com.

carl owen · #18 (**permalink**) 03-03-09, 13:37

I think you are talking about Domain Redirect. By this process, your domain name which may be xyz.org will be redirected (point) to abc.com. You can setup Domain redirect through your control panel.