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Domain Names and Hosting Service — How They're Related
by Maggi Hall, E-Commerce Adviser staff (rev021808)

Many business owners think that they need to register their domain name where they host their website, or the reverse. That's not the case. The only requirement when you don't host your website where you register your domain is that you need to tell your domain registration service where your hosting service is.

If you register your domain name and sign up for hosting at the same time with the same company -- you don't have to do anything and you can stop reading this article.

DNS Settings

. Domain Name System (DNS) is the process that lets the entire Internet know where to find your website. When you sign up with a hosting service, you will get the DNS addresses that you need to record with your registration service.

For example, e-commerceadviser.com has two DNS addresses, which are:
  1. ns205.websitewelcome.com
  2. ns206.websitewelcome.com
DNS Settings

Recording Your DNS Settings

. To record your DNS settings with your domain registration, log into your Domain Registration account. Then look around for a link that may say "Manage Settings" or "Edit DNS" or something like that. Then enter the DNS addresses in the "Name Server" fields. For E-CommerceAdviser.com the DNS settings are part of "Manange Domain" >> "DNS Server Settings" (See the above illustration).

If you're confused, just contact your hosting service support to get the DNS setting and contact your Domain Registration support to add the information to your account. The support people will know exactly what you need to do.

If you don't have your account information or you don't remember where you registered your domain, see Critical Information for Website Owners to track down your information.

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