Happy World Wide Web Day! August 1st is a day recognized around the world to appreciate and realize just how prevalent the World Wide Web is in our everyday lives. Today, nearly every industry and facet of life in modern society involves the Internet and the World Wide Web (WWW).
People often confuse the Internet and the WWW and use them interchangeably. However, they are not the same thing: The World Wide Web refers to how data is accessed through the Internet, and the Internet is the framework that devices communicate with one another. People can visit different web pages using a web browser by following a string of HTTP links like breadcrumbs. It allows us to do research for homework, find recipes for dinner, and message friends half a world away instantly.
In 1989, a British Scientist at the European Council for Nuclear Research (CERN) invented the World Wide Web (WWW) as a means of communicating and sharing information with other scientists in other organizations and universities internationally. Then in 1993, the WWW became free for anyone to use, along with the first web browser, Mosaic. If you want to learn more, look at one of our past blogs, sharing some mind-blowing facts about DNS and the history of the internet.
Working tirelessly in the background is the Domain Name System (DNS), a hierarchical and distributed database with multiple levels of authority in the domain name space that ensures we can reach sites easily and instantly. When you search for something in your browser, DNS makes sure your page request is routed to the appropriate server where the website is being hosted. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) oversees top-level domains (TLDs) that we are very familiar with, like .com, .org, and country-code TLDs like .uk. Second-level domains (SLDs) are where we get more specific to the organization or individual, like “noip” in www.noip.com.
DNS works a lot like a white pages directory in which all we have to do is look up the name of the site we need instead of each unique numerical Internet Protocol (IP) address, which is subject to changing randomly. Much like your cell phone contacts, you are more likely to remember the name of who you are trying to call rather than their seven-digit number.
Per our founder, Dan Durrer, in a recent article published in Security Info Watch states that:
“In a world that has never been more connected, DDNS enables users to access their locally hosted websites or mini clouds, manage their IoT smart home, and enjoy playing the latest video game with friends all over the world. DDNS is no longer just for watching your furry friends when you’re out of the house through a “kitten cam,” but a crucial element of the modern internet and business infrastructure–and there are still reliable DDNS services in this changing landscape.”
No-IP is one of the few DDNS service providers that has seen it all – Take a look and see how we can support your network needs today!