Where Is My Website Stored?

For this month’s blog, I thought it would be beneficial to explain where websites are stored on the internet. Many people are confused about the internet and do not understand where the information is stored. Numerous people view the internet as a large cloud of information.

When you have a website it is normally comprised of different types of information that work together. These are a Domain Name, DNS and a Web Server. Your Domain Name and DNS are basically the information that is out on the internet which directs someone that is interested in viewing your website to where they need to go. The location they most often want to visit is your website which resides on a Web Server. Most commonly, a Web Server is a computer that sits in a datacentre. A datacentre is a building that consists of very high speed internet connections and several computers. This allows a great number of different people to connect to your website and view it all at the same time. The more people viewing your website, the faster and larger the internet connections you will need. Normally websites are spread across multiple servers, or have a backup system to provide redundancy in case of a computer failure.

Typically you pay an Internet Service Provider (ISP) for hosting your website and this is usually an annual cost. Most ISP companies will provide Domain Registration, DNS, and a Web Server (Web Hosting) as a bundle, but you can register and spread these services with multiple companies.

The diagram below illustrates the internet in its most basic form.