Thinking / Domain, DNS and hosting.
Domain, DNS and hosting.
By Deborah Arpino
A domain is the name. DNS holds the directions. hosting is where the website runs. Three different things, often provided by three different companies, all pretending to be the same thing.
Changing one can break another. Pointing a domain at new hosting is simple until it also affects your email, your verification records, or the connected services you forgot were there.
Before changing anything, understand what each part is already doing.
The three parts, in one picture.
What breaks, and why.
The website moves and the email stops arriving. The domain is renewed at one provider and the DNS is still at another. A verification record for Google Search Console or a mailer quietly disappears in a cleanup.
None of it is magic. All of it is worth mapping before you touch it.
Next, the vocabulary