Domain and hosting in South Africa
Many tend to confuse domains to be hosting, or rather be both. You may acquire just a hosting plan and think that is it, once you upload your website it should appear online. You may also register just a domain and think you are good to go. Well, this is not the case. Let’s see what domain and webhosting entails in whole.
What is a domain?
A domain name is a unique name or web address that people use to locate a website, it could be a personal website or a business website, whichever the case. An example of a domain name is google.com. When someone types google.com in the browser, he will be able to see the contents of the website for google.com.
Domain names can be of different extensions. Domain extensions are the letters after the dot in the domain name. Examples of domain extensions include; xyz, .com, .net, .org, .cloud etc. Therefore, a domain name may comprise of any extension, depending on your preference.
What is a hosting
A hosting is a storage space on a server where data or the website that is accessed over the internet is stored. This is simply where your website data is stored for it to be displayed online through the website name referred to as the domain name. There are several types of hosting;
- Shared hosting – This is a type of webhosting where by multiple users share one physical server and resources for their websites. This is the cheapest hosting plan and is suitable for small websites or start-ups that do have much traffic.
- VPS hosting – This refers to a virtual machine that operates on a physical server and offers virtualized server resources. In comparison to shared hosting, VPS hosting provides more flexibility and customization because it gives you dedicated server space with set aside resources. It is recommended for websites experiencing medium traffic.
- Dedicated hosting – It refers to a physical server that is dedicated to one single customer. Since the consumer has total control over the device, they can customize it to meet their specific needs, including those related to performance and security. This is for websites that have huge traffic or require higher resources to run their websites.
How does a domain and hosting work?
Please note that both domain and hosting are dependent on one another. A domain will not be functional without a hosting, and so is the hosting without a domain. For you to access a given website, the domain has to be registered and be active, and the hosting has to be active as well.
You have to register a domain with your preferred domain registrar, purchase a hosting plan and link it to your domain, and he final step will be to upload or design your website. With all these done, your website will be accessible online. At this point, you are good and set.
Conclusion
It is therefore worth to take into consideration what you want to achieve in the end of the day. This will help you come up with a good structure, involving a good domain name and a suitable hosting plan. When done, you may now focus on growing exponentially.
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