Well done getting this far! In this section, you'll learn about something very useful and also very unknown to most people. IP addresses! This is a very important part of the World Wide Web.
An IP address for a computer is like a street address for a house. Remember when you learned that when you type "google.com", your computer sends a request to Google's server, and then the server sends a webpage back? Well, the server wouldn't know where to send the webpage if your computer didn't tell the server your IP address. Your computer asks for the webpage, and supplies the IP address it should be sent to (in this case, your computer's own IP address). Now, a bit more detail about IP addresses.
An IP address looks something like this:
(This was, in fact, Google's IP as of 2021. Try pasting it into your browser, see if it takes you to Google). You'll notice, it's a bit cryptic. What's really strange is that you don't have to know that big number to see Google's homepage, and your computer doesn't know it either, because it couldn't have a list of every single IP address in the world, there are millions!
172.217.5.115
(This was, in fact, Google's IP as of 2021. Try pasting it into your browser, see if it takes you to Google). You'll notice, it's a bit cryptic. What's really strange is that you don't have to know that big number to see Google's homepage, and your computer doesn't know it either, because it couldn't have a list of every single IP address in the world, there are millions!
So how can your computer find the address "172.217.5.115" when all you give it is "google.com"?
This is what happens: your computer's request for "google.com" leaves your home network and starts looking for a special server that DOES have a list of many IP addresses. If it has Google.com, then it tells your computer Google's IP, and then your computer knows exactly where to go (if it doesn't have Google.com, it will point your computer to another special server that might know, and so on until your computer can find the correct IP). This is called Domain Name System Resolution (a Domain is another name for a website). These special servers help your computer "resolve" where google.com is located.
So this is how your web requests find their way around the internet: they keep hopping around these special servers until they find the IP they're looking for. These servers are sometimes called Name Servers (they just hold a bunch of domain names and the corresponding IP addresses).
So if we change the situation to where someone else is trying to reach your server to see your website, unless a Domain Name Server (DNS) has you on the list of IP addresses, nobody will ever make it to your website. You must, therefore, get a Domain.
This is what happens: your computer's request for "google.com" leaves your home network and starts looking for a special server that DOES have a list of many IP addresses. If it has Google.com, then it tells your computer Google's IP, and then your computer knows exactly where to go (if it doesn't have Google.com, it will point your computer to another special server that might know, and so on until your computer can find the correct IP). This is called Domain Name System Resolution (a Domain is another name for a website). These special servers help your computer "resolve" where google.com is located.
So this is how your web requests find their way around the internet: they keep hopping around these special servers until they find the IP they're looking for. These servers are sometimes called Name Servers (they just hold a bunch of domain names and the corresponding IP addresses).
So if we change the situation to where someone else is trying to reach your server to see your website, unless a Domain Name Server (DNS) has you on the list of IP addresses, nobody will ever make it to your website. You must, therefore, get a Domain.
Found this blog interesting?
Please comment and Follow Internet Hacks Journal on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to peruse more selective substance we post. Also subscribe to our new YouTube channel.
