Home Page

Web Site Hosting
 Hosting Plans
 Shopping Cart
 Order Now
 Domain Name Search
 Hosting FAQ
 DNS FAQ
 E-Mail FAQ

Domain Registration
 Search for a Domain Name
 Register Domain Name
 Renew Domain Name
 Transfer Domain Name
 Manage a Domain Name
 Terms & Conditions
 Resolution Policy
 Domain Name FAQ
 Registration FAQ

Email Solutions
 Order E-Mail Solution

Site Promotion
 Promotion FAQ

Web Site Design
 Request Proposal
 Web Design Faq

Merchant Services
 Internet Merchant (USA)
 Retail Merchant (USA)
 Payment Gateways
 Shopping Cart
 How E-Commerce Works
 Glossary

EZ Pay Service

Terms of Use

Acceptable Conduct

Customer Support

E-Mail Us

Send This page

DNS FAQ

Each domain, or web site, has a unique Internet Protocol ("IP") address, which is four numbers separated by dots (eg. 123.223.32.122). Web browsers and other Internet software, use the IP address to obtain the desired web page. It is much easier for people, however, to remember and use names, which is what DNS allows us to do.

As generally illustrated below, a lot goes on behind the scenes, when we click on a link or type a name into our web browser. Our browser must first resolve the name to an IP address, in order to fulfill the request.

1. Name Server: Our browser contacts the domain name server, which is provided by our Internet Service Provider ("ISP"). The secondary name server is redundant and only responds to the request when the primary name server is unavailable. The name server will supply the IP address to the browser by either retrieving it from its own records or by finding it on the Internet.

2. Root Name Server: The ISP's name server did not have the requested IP address, so it contacts a Root Name Server and obtains the IP address of the Name Server Authoritative, which does have the requested address.

3. Name Server Authoritative: The name server next contacts the Name Server Authoritative, obtains the requested IP Address and returns it to our browser.

4. Web Server: Now, with an IP address, our browser dispatches our request and the appropriate web server answers by supplying the desired web page.

IP Address: Each web site, such as www.domain.com, will have a unique IP address assigned to it by the Company which hosts the site on its web server. An IP address is a 32 bit number, written in Dotted Octet notation as a series of four 8 bit numbers, which are separated by dots (eg. 123.223.32.122). Each Octet must be in the range of 0 - 255, inclusive. The significance of the IP address, and each Octet, is from left to right, just like normal decimal arithmetic.

Address Blocks: IP addresses are usually allocated to companies in address blocks. There are three common Classes of address blocks:

• A Blocks: Supports 16,777,214 IP addresses/hosts - Ranges from X.0.0.0 through X.255.255.255 (Where X is from 1 through 126)

• B Blocks: Supports 65,532 IP addresses/hosts - Ranges from X.Y.0.0 through X.Y.255.255 (Where X is from 128 through 191)

• C Blocks: Supports 254 IP addresses/hosts - Ranges from X.Y.Z.0 through X.Y.Z.255 (Where X is from 192 through 223)

Traditionally, blocks are often described using the first address in the block, eg. X Company owns A Block 8.0.0.0 or net 8, Y Company owns B Block 128.123.0.0 or net 128.123 and Z Company owns C Block 192.223.22.0 or net 192.223.22.

Reserved Address Blocks: The following IP addresses are reserved for private internets and intranets and are non-routable on the Internet:

• A Block: Ranges from 10.0.0.0 through 10.255.255.255

• B Block: Ranges from 172.16.0.0 through 172.31.255.255

• C Block: Ranges from 192.168.0.0 through 192.168.255.255

So, if you see one of the reserved addresses in the header of an e-mail, that means the e-mail has been forwarded around an internal network before being gatewayed to the Internet proper. Note that 127.0.0.0 through 127.255.255.255 is also reserved for loopback and is used for internal testing on local machines. The canonical loopback address is 127.0.0.1.

Domain Names: A name is much easier to remember than an IP address. Consequently, a registered domain names provides much better visibility for a web site. As with the allocation of IP Blocks, domain names are allocated by the Internet Authority. Registration includes the name and IP address of the respective Name Server Authoritative, which is provided by the Company hosting site on its web server. Both the domain name and the Namer Server Authoritative information are stored on the Root Name Server, while the domain name and its actual IP address are stored on the Name Server Authoritative.

E-mail: You can send e-mail using the IP address, much the same as you can by using the domain name. For instance, if the IP address of domain.com was 168.77.222.3, you could send e-mail to either user@domain.com or user@[168.77.222.3].