IP address – Ananova

One term you see tossed around a lot in web hosting is IP addresses. There are basically two types of IP addresses: static and shared.

When someone types in the address: http://www.yourdomain.com that name is translated into numbers (called an IP address) and then the computer is directed to that IP address which is the web site. Every web site on the internet is found not by its domain name but by its IP address. IP addresses are in the format similar to 192.168.0.1, four discreet blocks separated by periods. You can reach a site by typing in the IP address alone and that will take you directly to the site.

Now every single website has an IP address specifically allocated to it. For example, every single website on this server does not use different IP addresses. If every site used a different IP address there could potentially could be a problem with running out of IP addresses. A lot of the sites on this server, and other servers on the internet, use one IP address for multiple sites. The server basically steps in and does a millisecond of work and saves an IP address. Using more than one site on an IP address is called sharing IPs or a Shared IP address. If a site has its own IP address, and shares with no one else, it is called a Static IP address. You can always reach a site which has a static IP address by using its IP address alone, but you can’t reach a site using a shared IP address by typing in the IP address alone because when you type in a shared IP address you arrive at the server but the server doesn’t know which site you want because you haven’t told it which domain name you want.

The main reason for having a static IP address is that you can only use SSL encryption (the stuff that makes e-commerce happen) on a static IP address. In order for a person to transmit sensitive data over the internet at times this data must be encrypted to prevent someone from intercepting the information. You can only use this encryption (called SSL) when the web site has its own IP address (static IP). It doesn’t work on a shared IP. So when a website takes in order with a person’s credit card it needs to encrypt this data and it uses SSL with its static IP. Another reason for having a static IP address is that if a web site wanted to have anonymous ftp transfers (basically where anyone can download files off a site) the site needs to have a static IP address to handle the anonymous ftp transfer. Other than these two reasons there is no need for a site to have its own IP address.

With low cost of domain names and low hosting fees it is common to own several websites. There are a few ways to manage unlimited domains. It’s very important to know the advantages and disadvantages of each method.

You may have an existing website and like the services your host provides. By starting a new website with the same host you get the reassurance of dealing with a company you know. Sometimes you may get a discount for every additional account with the same host.

Using a different host for a new website will let you compare the quality of hosting services offered by different companies. In addition, separate hosts will provide each of your websites with a different IP address.

Having different IP addresses is useful if you plan to link the sites together for search engine optimization. Incoming links are very important: a website with many incoming links will get a higher position in most search engines. If the links are coming from the same IP address their value will be discounted.

Hosting your websites with different hosting companies guarantees that they have different IP addresses. An individual IP address is available at extra cost from most companies. For a fee each website can have its own unique IP address. Having a unique IP address is required if you want to have a secure connection enabled on your site.

If you decide to host all your websites with the same company, there are three basic ways to go. Each site could have its own account, you could sign up for a reseller account, or you could get a dedicated server account.

Hosting all your websites with one host has a few advantages, but there is one major disadvantage – if your server goes down, all your sites go down. If you depend on your sites for income this can be painful and it’s a good idea to have at least one of your sites with a different host.