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DNS stands for Doamin Name System. Domains are basically nicknames for servers. This was designed so humans don't have to memorize IP addresess for their favorite websites. DNS works by When your device requests a url It works its way to the router all the way to the TLD servers. TLD servers or top level domain servers are the servers that manage the top level domains (eg: .com, .org, .net, etc.) and they know which DNS server is responsible for each domain. Once the TLD server finds the correct DNS server it sends the request to that server and that server sends back the IP address of the website you are trying to access. This process is called DNS resolution and it typically takes less than a second to complete.
All Domains are "owned" by ICANN. However in order to obtain one you need to contact a Domain provider there are many of these including but not limited to Google, Cloudflare, GoDaddy, Wix, IONOS, Squarespace, Namecheap, etc.
First, in order to host a website you need to connect your purchased domain to your server. To connect your domain with your server, you must connect the domain to your web hosting provider or website builder by updating its DNS settings. First, log in to your domain registrar's account (where you purchased the name) and locate the DNS Management or Nameserver section. log into your hosting provider (like Bluehost or Hostinger) to find their unique nameserver addresses, which typically look like ns1.example.com. Copy these addresses and paste them into the "Custom Nameservers" fields at your registrar, replacing any existing ones. Once saved, it can take anywhere from a few minutes to 48 hours for these changes to "propagate" across the internet before your domain officially points to your live website.
Another method that you can do to host your site (Which we highly recommend) is instead of using a Hosting provider you can host it on your own hardware. In order to do this you need a Computer that can run while you are away. Once you have aquired the appropriate hardware you need to choose a Operating system, usually Linux is the go to choice but you can use other Operating systems. (See Operating systems to see the appropriate operating system for your use case. ) Once you have installed your operating system of choice you need to install a webserver. Our recommendation is to use "nginx" but you can also use the older "Apache" software. Another option to host a website that isn't on your own hardware is to use a VPS (Virtual Private Server) provider like DigitalOcean, Linode, Vultr, etc. These providers will give you a virtual machine that you can install your webserver manually on and host your website from there.
When you register a domain, your name, email, and home address are usually added to a public database called WHOIS. To keep this information private and avoid getting spam calls or emails, you should enable WHOIS Privacy Protection. Most domain providers offer this for free or a small fee. It replaces your personal details with the provider's information, so your identity stays hidden from the public while you still maintain full ownership of the name.
After connecting your domain to your host, you need to make sure it is secure by setting up an SSL Certificate. This is what puts the "HTTPS" and the little padlock icon next to your URL in the browser. Without it, browsers like Chrome may show a "Not Secure" warning to your visitors, which can scare them away. This dosent just make your site look more professional, it also encrypts the data sent between your visitors and your server, protecting sensitive information like passwords and credit card numbers from being intercepted by hackers. Many hosts provide a free SSL certificate through a service called Let's Encrypt (You can also use Let's Encryt with your own server with a package called "certbot"), and it's usually just a one-click setup in your hosting dashboard. Another way you can keep your site secure with SSL for your own server is Cloudflare tunnels. If you registered your domain with Cloudflare (Or you transfer your domain to Cloudflare) you can install cloudflared on your server, then in the cloudflare dashboard you can make a new application and set the internal path to localhost:80 (or whatever port you configured your webserver to host on). This way you don't have to worry about SSL or port forwarding and cloudflare will handle the rest for you.
DNS is a crucial part of how the internet works, it allows us to access websites using easy-to-remember domain names instead of IP addresses. By registering a domain and connecting it to your hosting provider, you can make your website accessible to the world. Just remember to keep your personal information private with WHOIS protection and secure your site with SSL to build trust with your visitors.