Information about Domain Registration, Websites, and Email

Every computer on the Internet has a numeric address called an "IP address".  This address is the only way to specify what computer you want to talk to.   The Domain Name System is a convenient method of using names instead of numbers to designate computers on the Internet.   This system deals with "domains" and "hosts".  A domain is a name which stands for a group of computers, each of which is called a host. A domain is referred to by name, called a "Domain Name".   For example, "kona.net" is a domain name.  Individual hosts within that domain might be called "www.kona.net", "mailserver.kona.net", and so on.  

Because there are so many computers to deal with, the Domain Name System does not use a single central database to convert names to numbers.  Instead, each domain has one or more designated Name Servers, and these servers contain the detailed information about all of the computers in that domain.

When you register a Domain Name, you enter that name into a central registry which contains the name and address of each Name Server for your domain.     The function of the Name Server is to respond to requests for looking up a name (such as "www.kona.net") and retrieving the IP address.  When you type "www.kona.net" into your web browser, it performs a DNS (Domain Name System) lookup on that name and then uses the resulting IP address to communicate with the web server.

The Name Server, or DNS Server, for a domain also designates the name and address of the mail server for that domain.  Whenever someone sends email to, for example, "joeunix@kona.net", the first step is to do a DNS lookup to find the address of the mail server for the domain "kona.net".   Then the mail is sent to that mail server.

Registering a domain name does not create a website.  All it does is associate the domain name with the contact information and the DNS server information.  When you enter into a hosting agreement with us, we configure our DNS servers for your domain.  That is what gets your domain name connected to your email or your website.