[poseidon]

I am searching for the webspace suppliers of a couple of websites.

Can anyone please tell me the web space suppliers of:

Answerway.com

Pointask.com

Failing that is there somewhere I can search online for these suppliers.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

[RickJ]

Typically the domain servers for a domain is the host... so looking up pointask.com we find their domain servers are verio-web.com... so it's likely that the site is hosted there.

Do a search for answerway and you can probably find similar info.

I use GoDaddy for searching for this info.

[RickJ]

So just curious, why are you looking for info on those particular sites?

[poseidon]

Hello Rick,

I have tried to rate your answer but I get the message:

"You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to RickJ again."

Goodness knows what that means.

As I cannot rate you, please accept my thanks for your answer, it was very helpful.

No particular reason for using those particular sites. I just know them and as I had 'Googled' to find out how to find domain space providers without success (Obviously used the wrong keywords), I thought I would ask here. I simply quoting those two as examples.

Thanks again.

Cy
(Poseidon)

[RickJ]

You're welcome. Websites have to have the domain name pointed to a server... so unless the registrant or admin of the domain name has designated it as private, then the server it's pointed to will show up when you're looking up the whois info on it.

... and often the server name is the name of the hosting company.

[ScottGem]

Can you define what you mean by domain space provider? Do you mean the host service that is managing the server? Do you mean the domain owner? Or what?

[poseidon]

Hello Scott,

I might have been too vague with the way I worded my question, if so my apologies.

AskMeHelpDesk for example is a website I subscribe to, but they presumably rent this space and are licensed by a wbespace or domain supplier in order to create and run the site AskMeHelpDesk.

What I am interested in finding out is where can I find the information about the Domain Supplier who provides the space? Some websites I believe show that information but others do not.

Cy

[ScottGem]

You still aren't clear here. Maybe an explanation of how the system works will help.

Every computer directly connected to the Internet has a unique public IP address. Any system that connects to that computer does so using that IP address. However, remembering IPs is cumbersome. So when the WWW was developed a system of using domain names was created. A series of about a dozen root domain name servers was created and a contract to manage them was awarded to a company named Network Solutions. These domain name servers regsiter domain names along with the IP address of the computer where the main page is hosted. Local Domain name servers (at ISPs and other networks) refresh from the dozen root servers on a regular basis.

When a person enters a URL (Uniform Resource Locater or web address like www.askmehelpdesk.com) into a browser, the browser sends a message to the default DNS to match the URL. If the URL is found, the DNS returns the associated IP address. If not found it will query other DNS installation up to one of the root servers. Eventually, it either finds the URL and gets the IP or returns a Server not found message.

Once the IP has been returned the browser then uses HTTP to connect to the WEB server at that IP and pulls down the requested page onto the local PC, where it is rendered and displayed in the browser.

Initially Network Solution had the exclusive on registering domain names. Several years ago, this was opened up to other registrars. So, if someone wants to put up a WEB site, they register the domain name through one of the registrars. For a site to be accessible from the WEB it has to be on a computer running WEB server software (like IIS or Apache) that has a public IP address assigned to it. Such a computer can be owned and maintained by an individual, but generally most people use a Host Service. A Host service is a company that runs a server "farm". A facility with lots of servers, high speed connections and 24/7 maintenance. Host services will either share a server with several sites or a site operator (the domain name holder) can "rent" a dedicated machine just for their own use.

Therefore I would interpret a "webspace provider" as a host service. A "domain provider" as a registrar. Does that help you understand the system better? Can you now explain what it is you are looking for?

[RickJ]

Good explanation, Scott.

Poseidon, The short version:
* Domain names and websites are two different things.
* A domain name must be registered with a "registrar".
* To have a website, the domain name must be "pointed" to a "server" (aka "host").

So unless a domain name owner has paid to keep the info private, looking up the domain name info will tell you 1. who the registrar of the domain name is, and 2. where the site is hosted.

... so using this site as an example, the domain name is registered through Cheap-DomainRegistration.com (the registrar). See here.

In this case, the server name does not reveal who the host is. That is because this site is on a dedicated server with the host.

FYI, the host is LiquidWeb.

[ScottGem]

Good explanation, Scott.

Good?? I thought it was a great explanation. :D

I was wondering if the site was hosted or not. Makes sense to use a dedicated server though. Generally I don't recommend anyone host their own site unless they already have a server farm with 24/7 coverage. Even then, for security reasons, you probably want to keep the WEB side separate.

[poseidon]

Scott,

Thank you for a really comprehensive answer and for the time taken to compose it.

I believe I understand it now. Sorry if I did not phrase the question properly and got everyone confused. I'm good at that unfortunately.

My thanks also to RickJ

Cy

[ScottGem]

No need to apologize. It wasn't so much that you didn't phrase it properly, it was more that you used phrases that were not in the jargon so we had to guess your meaning.

So what did you mean?

[poseidon]

Hi again Scott,

I am merely trying to learn a little more about how the Internet ticks.

For example.:

I click my link to AskmeHelpDesk and go to their site but I wanted to know how to find out who supplied them with the space, and how can I find out who supplied those suppliers with the space, etc.

A sort of reverse engineering.

Basically I wanted to find out how many different organisations are involved before a website can be opened and displayed online to the public and if all those organisations can be identified by a subscriber to that web page.

I used the two original websiste merely as examples. I could have chosen any of course.

Does this help?

Cy

[RickJ]

Look at this one again. Does that answer your question?

[poseidon]

Yep.

Thanks Rick

Cy

[ScottGem]

Ahh I see. Well as my explanation indicated, you need at least 2; a registrar to register the domain name and the company that maintains the physical server where the files reside. There could also be a site designer and of course there is the site owner/operator. The functions could be combined. For example the registrar could also be a WEB Host service and even a designer. Or the owner/operator may do everything except register for themselves.

[poseidon]

Rick & Scott,

Thank you both for all the time and effort you have put into answering my question.

I believe it has all sunk into this somewhat thick skull of mine at last. (LoL)

Better watch out though, I will know where to come if I have anymore PC or Internet questions.

Take care both of you.

Cy

[RickJ]

Not a problem, we're here to help. In this case, I think it was about terminology. Once you understand host, domain, server, etc. it all starts making sense.