Websites.....

[imamartian]

Ok, can anyone help me understand?? the internet is a random mix of lots of servers and pc's hosting and using millions/billions of documents, aka websites...? So i want to register a website name, who do i pay? and if i pay a company to host my website on their server, how can i be sure that another site wont open up on another server in china or america? Is it just a gentleman's agreement seeing as the whole place is unregulated?

 

[godsoftandjoearedull]

Ok, can anyone help me understand?? the internet is a random mix of lots of servers and pc's hosting and using millions/billions of documents, aka websites...? So i want to register a website name, who do i pay?

Assuming the DNS name you want is availible, any one of a number of domain name registration companies, such as 123-reg, net2, domainexpress, etc

and if i pay a company to host my website on their server, how can i be sure that another site wont open up on another server in china or america?

Because you will 'own' that DNS namespace, such as imamartian.com and all the DNS servers around the world will be propogated with the information matching your web address to the server IP address which will be a public IP adress and therefore be unique. Like www.diy.com is 88.221.162.211

Is it just a gentleman's agreement seeing as the whole place is unregulated?

No, it's regulated see here, http://www.icann.org/tr/english.html

 

[Space cat]

-- if i pay a company to host my website on their server --

If you only want a small website your own ISP might host it for you for free. Alternatively, they might give you more space at a price. The website name will be made up from their own name (which will be registered already) and your username, so it'll be unique.

 

[Doc Lenny]

Ok, can anyone help me understand?? the internet is a random mix of lots of servers and pc's hosting and using millions/billions of documents, aka websites...? So i want to register a website name, who do i pay? and if i pay a company to host my website on their server, how can i be sure that another site wont open up on another server in china or america? Is it just a gentleman's agreement seeing as the whole place is unregulated?

Some info here http://www.nominet.org.uk