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Naming Your Site
✦ Every computer on the Internet has an IP (Internet Protocol) address.
When you connect to the Internet, a special number is assigned to your
computer. This IP address uniquely identifies your computer. Client
machines don’t need to keep the same address. For example, my note-
book has one address at home and another at work. The addresses are
dynamically allocated. A server needs a permanent address that doesn’t
change.
✦ IP addresses are used to find computers. Any time you request a Web
page, you’re looking for a computer with a particular IP address. For
example, the Google IP address is 66.102.9.104. Type it into your
browser address bar, press Enter, and you see the Google main page.
✦ DNS names simplify addressing. IP numbers are too confusing for
human users. The Domain Name System (DNS) is a series of databases
connecting Web site names with their associated IP numbers. When you
type http://www.google.com, for example, the DNS system looks
up the text www.google.com and finds the computer with the associ-
ated IP.
✦ You have to register a DNS name. Of course, to ensure that a particular
name is associated with a page, you need to register that relationship.
Registering a domain name
In this section, I show you how to register a domain using Freehostia.com.
Check the documentation on your hosting service. Chances are that the
main technique is similar, even if the details are different.
To add a domain name to your site, follow these steps:
1. Log in to the service.
Log in to your hosting service administration panel. You usually see a
Control Panel something like the one shown in Figure 1-13.
2. Find the domain manager.
In Freehostia, the domain manager is part of the regular administration
panel.
3. Pick a subdomain.
In a free hosting service, the main domain (freehostia.com, for
example) is often chosen for you. Sometimes, you can set a subdomain
(like mystuff.freehostia.com) for free. The page for managing this
process might look like Figure 1-14.
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