Reading · 12 min · Lesson 1 of 12

Prep: How domains, DNS and hosting fit together

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About this lesson

A domain is the name people type (example.com). Hosting is the computer that stores your site. DNS is the phone book that connects the name to the computer.

Records to know

  • A record: points a name to a server IP address
  • CNAME: points a name to another name
  • MX: tells the world where to deliver email
  • TXT: proves ownership and fights spam (SPF, DKIM, DMARC)

Choosing hosting

Compare price after the first year, storage, backups, support hours, server location (closer to your visitors is faster), and whether cPanel is included.

DNS changes can take minutes to hours to spread worldwide. This is called propagation.