Identity for Computers on a Network » Name, IP address

Two or more computers connected together would form a network of computers. Small computer networks are the ones that we see in homes or small offices where there are a few computers physically connected through wires or through wireless radio systems. Large computer networks are those that we find in relation to large computers used for railway reservations, bank ATM's etc. The largest computer network is the "Internet". Internet is a network of networks where millions of computers are connected to one another indirectly. • IP address Each computer (rather each device) within a network has a unique identification called its IP (Internet Protocol) address. These are used by the computers/devices to identify and communicate with each utilizing the Internet Protocol standard (IP). The above illustration explains how to obtain the IP address of a computer using the Windows XP operating system. • Computer Name Each computer also has a name set for it. This is an alias or label for the computers IP address. A computer on a particular network, announces its name and IP address to all the computers that are directly connected to the network to which it is also connected. From your computer, you can address/access any computer Connected directly to the network to which your computer is connected using its IP address or name. Connected indirectly to the network to which your computer is connected using either its IP address only

Sharing a Computer's resources

Where a computer is connected to the network, the other computers on the network can access the files, drives, printers and other devices connected to it, processing power, etc on that computer if they are permitted to do so. Giving access to a resource on a computer to other computers on the network is called sharing the resources. You may set restrictions while sharing resources over the network. • Shared Folder Where a folder on your computer is shared, all the files and folders within it would be accessible to those who are permitted access. • Sharing Folder • Share Name Share name is the name with which the shared folder is identified on the network. It need not be (and is generally not) the original name of the folder. This name is set at the time of enabling sharing for the folder.

Path of files on other computers on a Network

For accessing a shared folder on a computer, we first access the computer on the network using either its IP address or its name. All the shared folders on a computer, irrespective of their physical location on the computer on which they are stored, would be at the same level when they are accessed from other computers on the network, The shared folders would be identified with their share names. The path of the shared folder starts with a \\ indicating a resource on a computer on the same network to which the computer is connected. The name or IP address following it, represents the computer on which the shared folder (resource) is located and the name that follows it, is the share name of the shared folder. • Accessing the Shared Folder » Windows Explorer Windows explorer is a program that you use to browse the files and folders on your computer. We use the same program to access a shared folder on any other computer on the network. Once a shared folder is accessed, it is as good as any other folder on your computer, the only difference being that the files and folders within a shared folder are physically located on another computer. • Peer to Peer [P2P] Networks Peer = A person who is of equal standing with another in a group Where all the computers on a network have equal/same type of capabilities, we say that the network is a peer to peer (P2P) network. Such a network is intended to enable sharing of files between the various computers in the network. We do not find the programs on one computer being accessed by the other computers.

Website » a Shared Folder

Internet is a very large network of computers and a web site is nothing but a shared folder located on a computer connected to the internet. Being connected to the internet implies being a part of that large network of computers. We access/see/open a web site from a computer connected to the internet. Thus the computer that we use is part of the large network of computers that we call the internet. Therefore, when you are accessing a web site you are in effect accessing a shared folder on a computer connected to your computer. • Web Site » Shared Folder (of a Special kind) Generally a folder is accessed in windows explorer to view the list of files and folders within it. Similarly a shared folder is also accessed using windows explorer to browse the list of files and folders within it. A website is also a folder. Just like any other folder, it can hold files and folders. Consider the web site http://www.theedifier.com/. [theedifier.com is the share name of a shared folder]. Consider the address http://www.theedifier.com/images/site/logo.png → This indicates a file by name logo.png, present within a folder by name site which is within another folder by name images which is within the folder theedifier.com. However, we should note that it is a special kind of shared folder. That is the reason we access the web site using a web browser and not windows explorer. • Web Site Name » Special Share Name A web site being a shared folder has a share name. The share name of a shared folder representing a web site has got a name extension just like in the case of file names. [theedifier.com, google.co.jp, krishbahvara.org, etc.]

Accessing the Web Site (Shared Folder)

• Using a Browser We access a web site (a shared folder) using a browser (internet explorer, fire fox etc) to view the content of special kind of files called web pages, within the web site. The act of viewing the web pages is what we call browsing. The communication protocol used is http [hyper text transfer protocol]. • Using Windows Explorer [ftp access] Web masters, i.e. those who build and manage web sites, access them (shared folders representing the web sites) using the windows explorer. In such a case their intention is to browse through the list of files and folders within that shared folder and not browsing web pages. The communication protocol used is ftp [file transfer protocol]. Even while browsing a folder using windows explorer what we look for is files. However, in that case we browse through the folders, locate the file that we need and do acts like copying them, replacing them, deleting them, etc. Whereas, using a browser, we directly open up the files within the website (shared folders) for viewing them. • Web Address Since the computer on which, the shared folder representing the web site is physically located, is connected indirectly to the computer from which you are accessing it, you can only use the computers IP address (and not its name) for accessing it. The address used to access a shared folder on a computer on the network, takes the form IP_ADDRESS/SHARE_NAME. Thus to access the web site theedifier.com (the share name of a shared folder) located on a computer with the IP address 202.54.32.124 we use the address, //202.54.32.124/theedifier.com/ A communication protocol is prefixed to the address, to specify the purpose for which it is being accessed, thereby making the address read http://202.54.32.124/theedifier.com/ [: being the separator between the protocol and the actual address] • Finding the IP address of the computer hosting the Web Site

Kinds of Web Hosting, DNS

• Shared Hosting (Or) Virtual Hosting Because a website is a shared folder, the same computer can host a number of web sites, each a distinct shared folder with the web site name as their share name. This method of hosting multiple websites on the same computer is called shared hosting. Shared hosting takes two forms » Name-based A number of web sites are hosted on a single computer with a single IP address. The browser at the time of requesting a resource from the web server includes, as part of the request, the website (domain/host) name along with the IP address. The server uses this information to determine which web site to show the user. » IP-based Even in this case, a number of web sites are hosted on a single computer. However, each web site has its own IP address. The web server would be able to serve the request made by the browser even if the web site name is not included in the request, using just the IP address. IP based Virtual Hosting is preferable over Name Based Virtual Hosting. • Dedicated Server Where a web site is run on a machine where no other web sites are hosted, it is called a dedicated server. Since the services of a single machine are to be employed for only one web site, it is costlier than shared hosting service. • Virtual Private Server Where a physical server computer is partitioned into multiple servers such that each has the appearance and capabilities of running on its own dedicated machine, we call each of the servers a virtual private server (VPS) or virtual dedicated server (VDS) or virtual server. Each virtual server can run its own full-fledged operating system, and each server can be independently rebooted. There are two types of Virtualizations, software based and hardware based. In software based virtualization the virtual machines share the same kernel and actually require the main node's resources. In hardware based virtualization, the virtualization mechanism partitions the real hardware resources. This can be classified between shared server and dedicated server hosting • DNS For accessing a web site, we never specify the IP address of the computer on which the shared folder representing the website is located. We are just using the share name (the web site name) of the shared folder. Even then we are able to access it. How? Every Internet Service Provider (ISP) maintains one or more computers called DNS (domain name system) servers which perform the function of letting the browser know the IP address of the computer on which a web site is located. DNS servers maintain a database of all the web addresses along with the IP address of the computer on which they are located. This database is constantly updated by fetching the data from ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) the organisation which registers domain names (web site addresses). Whenever you enter a web site name in the browsers address bar and ask it to fetch the content within that, the browser would communicate with the DNS server of the ISP and fetch the IP address of the computer on which the web site is located. The browser then establishes a TCP connection with the server at that IP address. After establishing a connection, the browser would send the request for the content of the web site to that computer. Because the browser makes a request for the web content after establishing the TCP connection, we do not see the IP address being displayed in the address bar. • Server Client A server is one who gives/provides/serves. A Client is one who is served or who uses the services of the server. Where a computer access another computer and accomplishes tasks using that computers resources we say they are in a client server relationship. A Client asks for and a server serves. Your browser asks and the computer hosting the web site gives. Thus your computer is a client computer and the computer hosting the web site is a server computer.

Browser » Web Server, Communication

A server client relationship can be visualised between computer programs also. One best example being your web browser (a client) and the web server software (a server) running on the computer where the web site (the shared folder) is located. Microsoft's Internet Information Server (IIS), Apache are some examples of web server software. A Client computer contacts a web server computer for a number of reasons like getting web pages for viewing in the browser, downloading files and saving them on your computer, streaming audio, video files for playing them in a compatible player (real player, windows media player etc.), downloading mails using a mail client like outlook express etc. The same web server can thus be made to accomplish a number of functions. When you enter the url for a website "theedifier.com" in your browser, you will notice that it changes automatically to "http://theedifier" It should rather be reading "http://theedifier.com:80/" http → A symbol indicating the protocol being followed by the browser. ":" → A separator. http → hyper text transfer protocol (indicates a web page being asked for). // → An indication to the browser that the file you are requesting is located on another computer connected to the network. 80 → Port number. ":" → A separator. / at the end → Indicates that the name before it is a folder name. • Protocol and Port Number The mode of communication between the client and the server is dependent on the function being accomplished. A client computer when contacting a server, is required to indicate the protocol (the rules) being followed for communication. Protocols are indicated with codes like http (hyper text transfer protocol - while requesting a web page) , ftp (file transfer protocol -while requesting a file for download), etc. The server computer has a number of virtual doors (called ports). Ports are identified with numbers. The server computer uniquely allocates the ports among the various functions it can accomplish. A request made following a particular protocol, should come through a specific port (virtual door). Conventionally (not compulsory) all servers allocate port 80 to http requests, port 21 to ftp requests. Therefore a browser running on a client computer requesting the server computer for a web page should follow the http protocol and should send the request to port 80. Similarly, windows explorer or any other special ftp clients, requesting the server computer for a file to be downloaded, should follow the ftp protocol and send the request to port 21. Because the browser is aware of this, it adds http before the url you enter, when you make a request for a web page. It however does not add the port number, though a request is sent to the default port only.

Domain, Sub-Domain Names

All the web site names are arranged into divisions. The primary level division of the domain names gives us the Top Level Domains (TLD). Top level domains are represented by the last characters in a web sites name. They are formed by 2 or more characters (.in, .com, .info). The period (.) acts as a separator between the rest of the web site name and the TLD name. In "mail.yahoo.com", if we consider only 'com' it is a primary or top level domain name. TLD's are created by ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) , the organisation administering the domain name system and cannot be created by others. Unsponsored .biz .com .edu .gov .info .int .mil .name .net .org Sponsored .aero .cat .coop .jobs .mobi .museum .pro .tel .travel Infrastructure .arpa .root Startup phase .asia Proposed .berlin .bzh .cym .gal .geo .kid .kids .mail .nyc .post .sco .web .xxx Deleted/retired .nato Reserved .example .invalid .localhost .test Pseudo-domains .bitnet .csnet .local .onion .uucp Country Specific domains .in (India) .jp (Japan) .us (United States) .ru (Russia) The Secondary level domain name is made up of two parts a top level domain prefixed with another name to its left (yahoo.com, google.com, futureaccountant.com, etc). In general, most of the web site names are secondary level domain names. The third level domain names have three parts. It is formed by prefixing the secondary level domain name with another name to its left (mail.yahoo.com, adwords.google.com etc). Domains of second and higher order are also called sub domains. Secondary level domains are sub domains of top level domains within their name (Eg: the secondary level domain yahoo.com is a sub domain of the primary level domain 'com', the third level domain adwords.google.com is a sub domain of the secondary level domain google.com) Technically, the term sub domain applies to a domain of any level. Even a top-level domain is a "subdomain" of the "root" ("zeroth-level") domain designated by a dot alone. • Domain Names point to a Shared Folder Web site names are share names for folders on computers connected to the internet. At the same time a web site name is also a domain name of second or higher order. Thus, we can say that all secondary and higher order domain names point to shared folders. Domain names of Second Level "blogger.com" Third Level "learn-blogging.blogspot.com" Fourth Level "in.answers.yahoo.com" Third and higher order subdomains can be made to point at a distinct web site or a sub folder within the domain. "blogging.theedifier.com" can be the name of a web site on its own or may be an alias for a sub-folder (say http://www.theedifier.com/blogging-blogger/) within the web domain. • Addresses of blogs on blogspot.com » Subdomains of blogspot.com All the web site addresses that you choose while hosting your blog on blogspot.com are third level domain names and are subdomains of the domain blogspot.com. Each of the third level domain name is a distinct web site. In choosing a URL for your blog hosted on blogspot.com, you have a chance to choose only the leftmost part of the name thus creating a sub domain within blogspot.com. • Is www.theedifier.com a subdomain? theedifier.com is a second level domain and www.theedifier.com is a third level domain which is a sub domain of theedifier.com. The content to be delivered by the web server while following the http protocol is placed in a folder by name public_html (on linux servers) or www (on windows servers). The folder would be shared with the web site name as its share name. For the user generally, both theedifier.com as and www.theedifier.com are the same. Thus to ensure that the same content is delivered in both these cases, the shared folder is given the share name theedifier.com and the third level domain www.theedifier.com is made to work as an alias for the same shared folder. If you have a web site of your own, ensure that your site is accessible with both forms of the web site name.

Wed address (URL) of a Folder/File, Root Folder

A website represents a shared folder located on a computer connected to the internet. Just like a folder on any other computer, this can contain files and folders within it. Entering the web site name in the address bar of your browser, amounts to asking your browser to fetch the content within the shared folder whose share name is the web site name. URL Amounts to Asking for http://theedifier.com/ http://theedifier.com http://www.theedifier.com The contents of the shared Folder representing the web site http://theedifier.com/blogging-blogger/ http://theedifier.com/blogging-blogger The contents of the folder within the web site http://theedifier.com/blogging-blogger/blog-blogging-blogger-blogspot.php A file within the folder blogging-blogger, within the root folder of the web site http://theedifier.com/forum/index.php?board=1.0 Passing on data to a file at the time of asking for it A file name ends with an extension which is of three or made up of a dot followed by four characters. A folder name does not have an extension. A web address can be identified as pointing to a file by the presence of the extension and as pointing to a folder by the absence of the extension. • Root The starting point of a storage location is what we mean by root. » Computer Drives Since each drive is an independent storage location called a volume, the root means the main folder that virtually holds all the content within that drive. It is represented by the symbol "\" in windows and by the symbol "/" in unix/linux. Root Folder relating to 'C:' Drive is C:\ (in windows) Root Folder relating to 'E:' Drive is E:\ (in windows) » Web Sites Each web site is a virtual drive and the root for the web site is nothing but the shared folder representing the web site. It is named "/".

Web Address of Files/Folders for use in Links

Addressing files or folder implies writing down their names with their complete path. Navigation within a web site and between web sites is accomplished with the help of hyperlinks. The hyperlinks are arranged in a number of different forms. Eg: text/image links, buttons, as menu items, as list items within a drop down list box, etc. In all these the web address of the resource (file/folder) that is being pointed to is used. A user using the link would be moved straight away to the intended/indicated file/folder. There are two ways we can address files/folders. • Absolute Addressing Absolute addressing implies writing down the name of the file or folder with its complete path starting from the root. » Computer Drives C:\Documents and Settings\The Edifier\My Documents\My Pictures\website   → This is an absolute path to the folder "website" » Web Sites http://www.futureaccountant.com/probability/problems-solutions/arranging-letters-word.php   → This is an absolute path to the file "arranging-letters-word.php" /probability/problems-solutions/arranging-letters-word.php   → It can also be written as above, if the file is being addressed from any page on the same web site. • Referential Addressing Referential addressing implies writing down the name of the file or folder with reference to the current location. » Computer Drives My Documents\My Pictures\website → A folder by name My Documents within the current folder, and a folder by name My Pictures, within that .... ..\..\My Documents\Notes\ → A folder two levels above the current folder, and a folder by name My Documents, within that and another folder by name Notes within it. » Web Sites problems-solutions/arranging-letters-word.php → A folder by name problems-solutions within the current folder, and a file by name arranging-letters-word.php, within that .... ../../permutations-combinations/study-notes/ → A folder two levels above the current folder, and a folder by name permutations-combinations, within that and another folder by name study-notes within it. While using the web address for creating links on any other page within the same web site, we can make use of referential addressing but when using it on within pages in other web sites, an absolute address should be used.

Complex Web URL's » URL Aliasing

When you fill information on a form in a web page and submit it, the information would be arranged by the web browser into an array and would be sent to the web server. Some times, this information sent is displayed in the address bar along with the url. In such cases you can notice the complex urls. The "?" symbol separates the file name and the data, with the different pieces of data separated by the symbol &. • URL Alias Complex urls are aliased to make them look simple and capable of being remembered. The url text is one important factor considered by search engines in classifying, indexing and ranking web pages. They may not be able to recognise all the content in a complex url especially the one present after the ?. Thus the web page may not get the credit it should both in terms of classification as well as ranking. Therefore, web masters use the technique of URL aliasing, whereby the actual url is replaced by its alias which is made up of words. The web site name stays intact and all or a part of the remaining part of the url would be replaced. The url -   → http://store.eSellerate.net/s.asp?s=STR123456789&Cmd=BUY&SKURefnum=SKU123456789&coupon=couponname is aliased as   → http://store.eSellerate.net/mv/sale Because of the existence of aliased urls, it would not be appropriate to conclude that the url with an extension towards the right end relates to a file and those without any extension related to a folder. Some web application software have code built in that would take care of this task of aliasing urls. In other cases, aliasing urls is an advanced task accomplished by web site designers.

Directory Listing [List of Files and Folders]

Directory listing is a term used to mean displaying the list of files and folders within a folder in a web site when the content of the folder is requested. A browser is used for browsing through the files (web pages) on a web site (but not the list of files and folders). Therefore, the directory listing would be disabled in general. Where the content of a folder is requested, the default file for that folder is not present and the directory listing for that folder is disabled, the web server would return an error message to the browser. Where the directory listing is enabled, the web server would send the list of files and folders within that folder. The directory listing may be disabled for each folder separately or for all the folders withing the site together. Where the directory listing is disabled for a folder, it would be automatically disabled for all the folders within it, except when it is enabled specifically for a folder.

Default File for Folders within a web site

Every folder within a web site would/should have a file that is to be sent by the web server in cases where the content of that folder is requested by the browser. Conventionally such default files are named default or index. However by altering the web server settings, any file name with any extension can be set to work as a default file. This is generally done by web masters. If there are multiple file names set to work as default, the web server would look for them in the order they are placed and send the first file that it finds as the default. The name of the default file for all the folders on the web site can be set to be the same. It can also be varied for some folders. On Unix/Linux servers, defaults to directories are set by including this code within the .htaccess file. Each foder can have its own .htaccess file. DirectoryIndex index.php default.php index.html default.html abcd.mtr To make this the default for all the directories/folders within the web site, include this code in the .htaccess file within the root folder Where the browser asks for the content of a folder and the web server sends the default file, the file name would not be displayed in the address bar. Though the address bar shows the name of a folder, it is not the contents of the folder you are viewing, but the default file for that browser.

Blogger Blog » Files, Folders, Default File

For blogs hosted on blogspot.com, the complete url of the blog (say http://learn-blogging.blogspot.com/) indicates the share name of the folder that hosts your blog (your personal web site). This is a web site with just a single main page. Trying to fetch the contents of your blog using the url (say http://learn-blogging.blogspot.com) amounts to asking for the contents of the folder representing your blog. Since there is a default file set for the folder (index.html) the contents of that file are sent to the browser by the web server. You can verify this by appending index.html to the url (using http://learn-blogging.blogspot.com/index.html in place of the above url). You can notice that the same content is displayed in the browser window. • All Other Folders are automatically created Depending on the template, archiving frequency, post page settings chosen for your blog a number of other folders are created within the root folder of your blog by the blogger program to arrange your blog content and make them accessible to the blog reader. You can view the names of the various folders created in the browsers address bar while navigating the content on your blog. No blogger program user, would have control over the creation and naming of these folders. Whenever you change the settings relating to the blog template (changing over from classic to modern or vice versa), archiving frequency, post page settings, the folder structure and the file names are rebuilt and written again to your blog (web site). • Images uploaded to Blogger are not stored in your blog folder The images that you upload to blogger are not stored within the folder representing your blog. They are stored on other shared folders having the web site names which are sub domains of blogger.com (Eg: photos.blogger.com). The photos stored in those folders are hotlinked (with proper permission) in your blog pages.

Hosting a blogger blog on your own web site

blogger.com only hosts the program that enables you to create and manage a blog. The blog created using blogger should be hosted somewhere (stored and made accessible) on the internet. While creating a blog, if you are choosing a URL that ends with .blogspot.com, (http://truestories.blogspot.com) it amounts to hosting your blog on blogspot.com (a free hosting service provided by google) website. All the files relating to your blog would be written to and saved within the shared folder representing your blog (truestories.blogspot.com) • Owning Web Site To have your own web site, you have to purchase a domain name (generally, a second level one) and buy hosting space on a computer always connected to the internet from web hosting service provider. Having your own web site implies owning/having a shared folder (having the domain name you buy as the share name) on a computer connected to the internet, with complete control over it. You can place any number of files and folders within your shared folder, subject to the space you buy. You can host the blog created by blogger, within any folder on your own web site, instead of on blogspot.com. • Procedure To set the blog created by blogger to be saved on your own web site, the following procedure may be followed. » Enable ftp access to a folder on your web site You need decide on the folder in which the files/folders created by blogger in relation to your blog would be stored. You can use an existing folder or create a new one for this purpose. It would be advisable not to use the folder for any other purpose. You would then need to create an ftp account, which has an ftp access to that folder on your web site. The blogger program would then write all the files and folders needed taking that folder as the root for the blog. Say a blog hosted on blogspot.com with the url "http://myownblog.blogspot.com" is now hosted on theedifier.com within a folder myblog (which is a sub folder within the folder blogging-blogger). The new url for your blog would be http://theedifier.com/blogging-blogger/myblog/. » Set a default file The settings for publishing the blog to your own web site are available on the publishing sub group page within the settings group. The settings require you to mention the name of the file (along with the extension) that would be used as the default (in place of index.html, it generally uses) for your blog. Ensure that the file name you use here is within the list of default file names for that folder, so that when someone tries to access your blog using just the folder name (http://theedifier.com/blogging-blogger/myblog/), the default file would be delivered by the web server. Otherwise the blog would be displayed only if the file name you have specified (say blog.html) is specifically asked for (http://theedifier.com/blogging-blogger/myblog/blog.html). » Republish the Blog You have to republish the blog to bring in the effect of any change you make to your blog settings. For blogs hosted on web sites other than blogspot.com, the blogger program would create all the files related to the blog in total whenever you choose to publish the blog. If the blog has many posts it may take a considerable amount of time to republish the blog. On choosing to Republish the blog, the blogger program would display a progress message during the progress of the publishing process. If there is an error in the data you have provided an error message would be displayed. On completing saving the required files to the blog folder, a list of files saved would be displayed. » Additional Options for Archiving Files • Limitations If you use a web site other than blogspot.com to host your blog, you may have to take note of the following limitations. • Image Size Restriction Images that have been uploaded to __.blogger.com of size greater than 40kb would not be displayed on the blog pages. To overcome this limitation, store those images/photos which are of a greater size on other free photo hosting web sites like flickr.com or photobucket.com and include them in your blog posts. • Classic Templates only You can only use the classic template for your blog. Widget based template cannot be used. • Cannot Restrict Blog Readership The blog readership can be restricted only if you are using the modern widget based template for your blog. Anyone who knows the url to your blog would be able to read it unless you have disabled access by setting passwords on your web site. • Blogger Blog as your Web Site You can use your web site to represent your blog, by using the root folder of your web site as the folder to be used by blogger for storing your blog files. In the initial stages of learning web designing, this will be help you to ensure that you are having some content up and running till you get accustomed to designing the site in full.

Hosting on Blogspot & using own web address

Even if cannot buy hosting space, you can choose to have your own personalised URL for your blog. In such a case you would be buying just the domain name. This would cost you somewhere between $2.5 to $6 (Rs. 125 to 300) per year. All the blog pages would be hosted on blogspot.com and you would be using the personalised url in place of the URL ending with blogspot.com for your blog. • Advantage » Can use Modern Template Under this method, you can use the modern widget based template for your blog. This would enable you to use all the features that come with the modern template like using labels, widgets, enabling membership features for your blog etc. • Limitations Images that have been uploaded to __.blogger.com of size greater than 40kb would not be displayed on the blog pages. To overcome this limitation, store those images/photos which are of a greater size on other free photo hosting web sites like flickr.com or photobucket.com and include them in your blog posts.

Hosting on Blogspot with own address » DNS Management Settings

When you buy a domain name, the organisation providing you with the service would provide you an account. If you login to that account, you can access web pages containing details relating to your domain name. The most common detail you find is with regard to Name Servers. • DNS » Resource Records The Domain Name System [DNS] is a distributed database, arranged hierarchically, containing records for domain names. Its main aim is to match a domain name to an IP Address. In order to fulfill this role, the DNS Server contains Records called Resource Records, te text representation of which are stored in zone files. Each domain can have a set of resource records associated with it. Apart from the domain name and the ip address of the computer hosting the web site with that domain name, there are a lot of other details maintained in these records which we do not come across normally. • Managing the DNS Records The organisation selling you the domain name may or may not provide access to DNS records to everyonel. They may provide access as an additional chargeable service. The settings that you have to take care of for your domain to work with the blog that you hosted on blogspot are » C Name Canonical Name Record (an alias name for a host). » A Name IPv4 Address Record (An IPv4 address for a host). These are used to translate human friendly domain names such as "www.adhemari.com" into IP-addresses such as 66.249.81.121 (machine friendly numbers). » Name Servers To make the changes made in the C Name and A Name records accessible, you may also have to change the Name server information for your domain. For a clear information relating to these settings, refer to the help on web pages within the user account provided by the organisation that provided you the domain name registration service.

Author Credit : The Edifier

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