What Is Web Hosting? How Domain, DNS, Server and SSL Work Together

What Is Web Hosting, Really?

When people ask “What is web hosting?” they are usually trying to understand one simple thing: how a website they see in a browser is actually stored and delivered from somewhere in the world. You type a domain name, hit Enter, and a few seconds later a complete page appears with text, images, forms, and maybe even a checkout. Behind that simple moment, several layers work together: your domain name, DNS, the web server, and SSL/TLS encryption.

In this article, we will walk through that journey step by step in a visual, down-to-earth way. Think of it as following a single request from a visitor’s browser, through the internet, all the way to your hosting at dchost.com and back again. You will see where each piece fits, what you actually buy when you purchase “hosting”, and how to avoid common mistakes that cause errors like “site not found” or “Not secure” warnings. By the end, you will be able to look at your own setup and confidently say: I know exactly what is happening under the hood.

How Domain, DNS, Server and SSL Fit Together (The Big Picture)

Before going deep, let us build a simple mental diagram of how everything connects. Imagine four main blocks:

• Domain – the human-friendly name (example.com)
• DNS – the internet’s phonebook that tells browsers which server to call for that domain
• Hosting server – the machine (shared hosting, VPS or dedicated server) that stores your website files and database
• SSL/TLS – the lock icon and encryption layer that secures the connection between visitor and server

Every time someone visits your site, these four blocks form a pipeline:

1. Browser asks DNS: “Where is example.com?”
2. DNS replies with the server’s IP address.
3. Browser connects to that IP and asks the web server for a specific page.
4. SSL/TLS (if enabled) wraps that communication in encryption so nobody can read or tamper with it.
5. Server sends back HTML, images, CSS, JavaScript, etc., which the browser renders as your page.

When you buy services from us at dchost.com, you are typically combining at least three things: a domain registration, DNS configuration pointing to our infrastructure or your own nameservers, and hosting on our shared hosting, VPS, dedicated server or colocation platform. SSL sits on top, securing anything sensitive like logins, contact forms and checkouts.

Step-by-Step: What Happens When Someone Visits Your Website

To really understand what web hosting is, it helps to “zoom in” on a single page load. Here is the journey in concrete steps.

1. The Visitor Types Your Domain

A visitor types www.yourbrand.com into their browser. At this point, the browser only has a name. It needs the actual server address (IP) to talk to.

2. DNS Lookup: Turning Domain into IP

The browser asks the DNS system: “What is the IP address for www.yourbrand.com?” DNS is a distributed database spread across many servers worldwide. Your domain’s DNS records live wherever your nameservers are set – either at your registrar, a DNS provider or at your hosting provider.

For example, you might have an A record:

www.yourbrand.com  IN  A   203.0.113.10

This tells the world: “To reach www.yourbrand.com, talk to the server at IP 203.0.113.10.” If you want a deeper dive into all the record types, you can read our guide DNS records explained like a friend: A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, TXT, SRV and CAA.

3. Browser Connects to Your Hosting Server

Now the browser knows the IP, so it opens a connection to your hosting server. That server could be:

• A shared hosting plan on our platform
• A VPS you manage yourself or with our managed options
• A full dedicated server or a colocation machine you own in our data center

Web server software (usually Apache, Nginx or LiteSpeed) listens on port 80 (HTTP) and 443 (HTTPS). When the request reaches port 443, SSL/TLS comes into play.

4. SSL/TLS Handshake: Setting Up Encryption

If your site is https://yourbrand.com, the browser expects a secure, encrypted connection. It starts a TLS handshake:

• Browser says “Hello, I want to talk securely. Here are the encryption methods I support.”
• Server replies with its SSL certificate and chooses compatible encryption methods.
• Browser verifies that the certificate is valid, signed by a trusted Certificate Authority (CA), and matches the domain.
• They agree on keys and establish an encrypted tunnel.

This is the stage that gives you the lock icon and “https” in the browser. For fundamentals around certificates, you can also check our article what an SSL certificate is and ways to secure your website.

5. HTTP Request: Asking for a Page

Once encryption is in place (for HTTPS), the browser sends an HTTP request like:

GET /products HTTP/1.1
Host: www.yourbrand.com
User-Agent: ...

The Host header is important because many domains can share the same IP on a shared hosting or even VPS. The web server uses this to decide which website configuration to use.

6. Server Response: PHP, Database, Files and Caching

Your web server processes the request. What happens depends on your stack:

• Static sites: server simply reads HTML/CSS/JS files from disk and returns them.
• PHP apps (WordPress, PrestaShop, Laravel, etc.): web server passes the request to PHP-FPM; PHP queries the database, loads templates, and renders HTML.
• Caching layers: Nginx FastCGI cache, LiteSpeed Cache or a CDN may serve a cached version without running PHP every time.

All of this is what you are really paying for when you buy hosting: CPU, RAM, storage (often SSD/NVMe), bandwidth and a software stack to process requests quickly and reliably. If you want to go deeper into how server optimisations affect speed, our article on server-side secrets that make WordPress fly is a good follow-up.

7. Browser Renders the Page

The server sends back an HTTP response with HTML, and the browser starts downloading all referenced assets (CSS, JS, images, fonts) – each of those requests repeats the same basic server round-trip, reusing the same secure TLS connection where possible. The visitor sees your site and interacts with it, unaware of all the moving parts.

Deeper Look at Each Piece

Now that you have seen the flow, let us zoom in on each part – domain, DNS, server and SSL – and clarify what you actually configure and pay for.

Domain Name: Your Human-Friendly Address

Your domain is the brand label that people remember and type. When you register a domain through us, you are essentially renting the exclusive right to use that name for a period (usually one year at a time, renewable).

Key points about domains:

• Registrar vs registry: we act as the registrar that talks to the global registry (.com, .net, country codes, etc.).
• Expiration: if you forget to renew, your site can go offline and the domain may eventually become available to others.
• Multiple domains: you can point several domains to the same website with redirects or parked domains.

If you want to see what to do right after buying a domain, including DNS and SSL steps, have a look at our checklist for the first 30 days after buying a domain.

DNS: The Phonebook That Knows Where Your Site Lives

DNS (Domain Name System) maps names like www.yourbrand.com to IP addresses. In practice, when you log into your panel or DNS manager, you manage records like:

• A – IPv4 address of your server
• AAAA – IPv6 address
• CNAME – alias that points one name to another
• MX – mail servers for your domain
• TXT – verification, SPF, DKIM and other text data

Where DNS lives depends on your nameserver settings. You can:

• Use nameservers provided by dchost.com and manage DNS in our panel.
• Use external DNS and just point A/AAAA records to your dchost.com server IPs.

If you want to run your own nameservers on a VPS or dedicated server, we explain the process step-by-step in our friendly guide to private nameservers and glue records.

Web Hosting Server: Where Your Site Actually Lives

Web hosting is the service of storing your website files and making them accessible over the internet 24/7 from a data center. At dchost.com this can be:

• Shared hosting – multiple websites share a single server; ideal for small to medium sites.
• VPS (Virtual Private Server) – your own isolated virtual server with dedicated resources; suitable for more control and higher traffic.
• Dedicated server – an entire physical server dedicated to you.
• Colocation – you bring your own hardware and we host it in our data center racks with power, cooling and network.

The core job of your hosting is to:

• Store your code, media, and database safely.
• Serve content fast when visitors request pages.
• Stay online with high uptime, monitored and maintained.

Our article what a data center is and why it matters for web hosting explains the physical side: power redundancy, cooling, network connectivity and security – all of which directly affect your hosting quality.

SSL/TLS: Turning “Not Secure” into the Lock Icon

SSL (more correctly TLS in modern versions) is the protocol that encrypts data between the browser and your server. Without it, logins, contact form data and payment details travel in plain text. With it, they become unreadable to anyone in between.

An SSL certificate contains:

• Information about your domain (and sometimes your organisation).
• The public key used in the encryption process.
• The CA signature that browsers trust.

On our hosting, you can typically:

• Use free, automated SSL certificates (for example via ACME/Let’s Encrypt) for standard sites.
• Install commercial DV/OV/EV certificates you obtain for e‑commerce or corporate needs.

For a deeper comparison between free and paid options, see our guide comparing Let’s Encrypt and commercial SSL for e‑commerce and enterprise.

Common Real-World Setups (And Which One You Actually Need)

Now let us translate the theory into practical scenarios you are likely to see when working with dchost.com or any serious hosting provider.

Scenario 1: Simple Business Site on Shared Hosting

This is the most common starting point:

• You register yourbrand.com with us.
• You use our nameservers, and we automatically create the DNS A record pointing to the shared hosting server.
• Your website runs on WordPress or a similar CMS.
• Free SSL is enabled so your site uses HTTPS.

This setup is enough for most small businesses, portfolio sites, blogs and landing pages. You mainly manage content (pages, posts, images) while we handle the server infrastructure.

Scenario 2: Growing Project on a VPS

Later, you may move to a VPS when you need more control, custom software or predictable performance. In that case:

• Domain: stays the same, still registered with us.
• DNS: your A/AAAA records are updated to the VPS IP instead of the shared hosting IP.
• Server: you configure web server (Nginx/Apache), PHP, database and SSL yourself or with our help.

The domain and DNS do not fundamentally change – they just start pointing to a new “home”. Our article on moving from shared hosting to a VPS with zero downtime describes the process in detail.

Scenario 3: Separate Hosting and DNS Provider

Sometimes you will host your site on our VPS or dedicated server, but keep DNS elsewhere (for example, at a DNS-only provider or an external service). In that case, you:

• Set your domain’s nameservers to the external DNS provider.
• Create A/AAAA records there, pointing to the dchost.com server IP.
• Still manage hosting, SSL and server configuration on our side.

This is perfectly valid, but it adds an extra panel to manage. Many customers prefer to consolidate domain, DNS and hosting at dchost.com to simplify operations.

Scenario 4: Multi-Site or Multi-Brand Architecture

Agencies and larger businesses often run multiple sites on one or more servers. For example:

• One VPS at dchost.com hosting 10–20 client WordPress sites.
• Each client has their own domain, sometimes registered at different registrars.
• DNS for each domain points to the same server IP, but different virtual hosts and SSL certificates route traffic correctly.

When you understand the domain → DNS → server → SSL chain, managing dozens of sites feels less mysterious. Our hosting architecture guide for agencies shows how this looks in real life.

Practical Checklist Before You Launch or Migrate a Site

Here is a short, practical checklist we use internally when preparing a new project on dchost.com. You can adapt it for your own launches or migrations.

1. Domain and Registrar

• Is the domain registered and not about to expire?
• Do you have access to the registrar panel and email address on file?

2. Nameservers and DNS

• Are nameservers pointing where you expect (our DNS, or your own)?
• Are A/AAAA records pointing to the correct server IP?
• Do you have any legacy or conflicting records that could cause problems (old IPs, wrong CNAMEs)?

If you are planning a cutover from an old server to a new one, we recommend a TTL strategy so DNS propagation feels instant. Our article the TTL playbook for zero-downtime migrations walks through this.

3. Hosting Plan and Server Resources

• Does your chosen plan (shared, VPS, dedicated, colocation) match expected traffic and complexity?
• Is there clear headroom in CPU, RAM and disk IO for peaks or future growth?
• Is backup configured (daily/weekly, plus offsite if needed)?

4. SSL Certificate and HTTPS

• Is an SSL certificate installed and valid for all domains and subdomains you will use?
• Is HTTP automatically redirecting to HTTPS (301 redirects)?
• Have you checked for mixed content (HTTP images/scripts on HTTPS pages)?

If you are moving a site from HTTP to HTTPS, follow our full HTTPS migration guide with 301 redirects and HSTS to keep SEO intact.

5. Application and Database

• Is your CMS or application configured with the correct domain and database credentials?
• Have you set appropriate PHP limits (memory, execution time, upload size) for your app?
• Is caching enabled (page cache, object cache, opcode cache) to reduce server load?

For PHP-based sites, our article on choosing the right PHP memory_limit, max_execution_time and upload_max_filesize gives concrete starting values and trade-offs.

6. Monitoring and Security Basics

• Do you have uptime monitoring configured (so you know if the site goes down)?
• Is a basic firewall in place, and are admin panels protected (strong passwords, 2FA where available)?
• Are automatic updates or at least update notifications enabled for your CMS and plugins?

Bringing It All Together

Web hosting is not just “somewhere in the cloud”. It is a very concrete chain of components that have to line up perfectly: a domain name people can remember, DNS records that correctly map that name to the right IP, a reliable hosting server in a solid data center, and an SSL/TLS layer that keeps everything secure. When any link in this chain is misconfigured or missing, you see familiar problems: the domain does not resolve, the wrong server answers, or the browser shows a big “Not secure” or certificate warning.

At dchost.com, our daily work is making sure this chain stays healthy for domains, shared hosting, VPS, dedicated servers and colocation customers. When you understand the big picture above, you can communicate clearly with us: “I think this is a DNS issue” or “My SSL is installed but HTTP is not redirecting.” That alone speeds up troubleshooting dramatically.

If you are planning a new project or a migration, feel free to treat this article as a checklist. Start with the question “What exactly is hosting for this site?” and trace the full line from domain to DNS, to server, to SSL. Once those four pieces are in place and monitored, you have a stable foundation to grow on – whether you are running a simple business site, a busy WooCommerce store, or a custom application on a VPS or dedicated server at dchost.com.