Networking Terms are Tricky
Diving into networking when it is related to web hosting is a little tricker than it might seem. There are a lot of confusing terms and even more confusing explanations of them all. I figured I’d take some of the most often used hosting network terms you might here and try to break them down.
Propagation - It takes 24 to 72 hours for domain name prorogation to take effect. What does that mean? Well this is the time that it takes for the ISPs to update their cached DNS records so that they learn that your new domain (or old changing domain) now points to the new address.
Traceroute - This is a network tool used to determine the route taken from when you type in a domain name till it reaches the web hosting server the web site is hosted on. You can think of this as following the breadcrumbs, and watching how your domain gets resolved to the place it is hosted.
Whois - Whois is the protocol that is used when asking a database to find out the owner of a domain name or an IP address on the Internet.
Ping - This is another networking tool tht use used to test if a particular server address is reachable across the Web. A good example of this would be if your house was a domain and I came knocking at your front door. Now where it comes in handy to ping is to find out how long it takes for you to come answer the door.
DNS - This stands for Domain Name System, and it is the system used to translate Internet domain names to IP numbers.
As you can see, once you break these down and explain them - all the pieces start to fit together in your head and make a little more sense. The important thing to remember is to do some homework when it comes to terms you don’t know in hosting so that you are better informed about what your web host is doing or what your hosting clients might want.
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Need more of this. Nice place for web host to point their customers.
True RED till you see the ads for other web hosts.
Great write up Mitch heard it back when the show was released. Really cool what you are doing here with this whole radio show podcast product.
I love using the word propagation. Not sure why, just sounds cool, heheh.
It is pretty fun to say.