Dedicated IP Address
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A dedicated IP address, often called a
Static IP address, is the set of numbers that are used to locate
your website or even your computer. Computers don't understand
domain names but rather an IP address such as 123.23.58.159.
This number is then translated to a domain name that people can
understand such as WebsiteToad.com.
The purpose of a dedicated IP
address is that it stays constant and is dedicated to
just your website. This is
necessary for setting up an SSL. If you're interested in
some in-depth information
click here.
How To Get A Dedicated IP Address
A dedicated IP address would be purchased through
your web hosting provider. It's generally a monthly fee on top of
your normal monthly fee although some hosting providers will allow
you to pre-pay and receive a discount.
Unless you have setup a dedicated server, meaning
you're the only one that has websites on it, you are most likely on
a shared server. This means that you may be sharing a server with
100s of websites.
This is a reason that hosting has become so
affordable. Hosting companies are able to cut down on costs by
sharing servers. The way that this is done is by setting up a
hosting account, when you choose your username this is typically how
you're identified on the server.
For demonstration purposes, say you setup a
hosting account and selected the username 'myusername'. An example
of your actual website address would be something on the order of
http://123.23.58.159/~myusername/.
When you setup a dedicated IP address your
website wouldn't share that IP address with everyone else on that
server although your account would still be on a shared server.
Do I need A Dedicated IP Address?
If you intend on accepting credit cards on your
website and plan on setting up an
SSL certificate you'll
need to setup a dedicated IP address for your website.
This will be required before your hosting
provider will be able to install the SSL certificate on your
account. You can generally expect the fee to be a couple of dollars
per month but I suppose that there a providers that charge more.
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