Get A Domain Name For Your Website¶
IP Address vs. Domain Name¶
An IP address is a unique series of numbers that identifies computers on a network, so an IP address can easily be used to determine the location of a device on the Internet. Currently, there are IPv4 and IPv6 addresses. IPv4 addresses are 32-bit numbers, and IPv6 addresses are 128-bit numbers. An example of an IPv4 address is xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx, and an example of an IPv6 address is xxxx:xxxx:xxxx:xxxx:xxxx:xxxx:xxxx:xxxx. However, it is difficult for people to remember these numbers, so domain names are used to identify websites instead. A domain name is a unique name that identifies a website. For example, the domain name for Google is google.com. Domain names are easier to remember than IP addresses, so they are used to identify websites instead of IP addresses.
Domain Name Structure¶
A domain name is made up of two parts: the top-level domain (TLD) and the second-level domain (SLD). The TLD is the last part of the domain name, and the SLD is the part before the TLD. For example, in the domain name google.com, the TLD is .com, and the SLD is google. The TLD is also called the domain extension. There are many different TLDs, and each TLD has its own meaning. For example, .com is used for commercial websites, .org is used for non-profit organizations, .edu is used for educational institutions, .gov is used for government websites, and .net is used for network infrastructure websites. There are also country code TLDs (ccTLDs) that are used for websites in specific countries. For example, .us is used for websites in the United States, .ca is used for websites in Canada, .uk is used for websites in the United Kingdom, and .cn is used for websites in China. The TLDs .com, .org, .edu, .gov, and .net are called generic top-level domains (gTLDs). There are also sponsored top-level domains (sTLDs) that are used for specific purposes. For example, .gov is used for government websites, .edu is used for educational institutions, and .mil is used for the United States military. There are also internationalized country code top-level domains (IDN ccTLDs) that are used for websites in specific countries.
Domain Name Registration¶
Domain names are registered through domain name registrars. Domain name registrars are companies that register domain names for people and businesses. Domain name registrars are accredited by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). ICANN is a non-profit organization that manages the domain name system (DNS). The DNS is a hierarchical naming system that is used to identify websites. The DNS is used to translate domain names into IP addresses. Domain names are registered for a period of time, and domain names can be renewed before they expire. Domain names can also be transferred to other domain name registrars.
Domain Name Providers¶
There several domain name providers that provide domain name registration services. Some of the most popular domain name providers are GoDaddy, Namecheap, and Namesilo. Usually, the domain name is payed for on a yearly basis, and the domain name can be renewed before it expires.
Linking Domain Name to Website¶
To link a domain name to a website, the domain name must be pointed to the IP address of the website. This can be done by changing the DNS records of the domain name. Some cloud service providers provide services for domain name registration and DNS management. For example, Amazon Web Services (AWS) provides Route 53, Google Cloud Platform (GCP) provides Cloud DNS, and Microsoft Azure provides Azure DNS.
The End¶
After linking the domain name to the website, the website can be accessed using the domain name, rather than the IP address. For example, my website IP is ð 8.214.19.225, after bonding the domain name to the website, the website can be accessed using the domain name ð https://www.cuishuaiwen.com. For this tech blog, before bonding, you can visit this blog via ð 8.214.19.225:8000, after bonding, you can visit this blog via ð https://www.cuishuaiwen.com:8000.