Web server as typing in "http://204.170.64.143."
Every time a user attempts to access material located on a
Web server by entering a domain name address into a Web browser,
a request is made to a Domain Name Server, which is a directory
of domain names and IP addresses, to "resolve," or translate, the
domain name address into an IP address. That IP address is then
used to locate the Web server from which content is being
requested. A Web site may be accessed by using either its domain
name address or its IP address.


A domain name address typically consists of several parts.
For example, the alphanumeric URL
http://www.paed.uscourts.gov/documents/opinions can be broken
down into three parts. The first part is the transfer protocol
the computer will use in accessing the content (e.g., "http" for
Hypertext Transfer Protocol); next is the name of the host server
on which the information is stored (e.g., www.paed.uscourts.gov);
and then the name of the particular file or directory on that
server (e.g., /documents/opinions).
A single Web page may be associated with more than one URL.
For example, the URLs http://www.newyorktimes.com and
http://www.nytimes.com will both take the user to the New York
Times home page. The topmost directory in a Web site is often
referred to as that Web site's root directory or root URL. For
example, in http://www.paed.uscourts.gov/documents, the root URL
is http://www.paed.uscourts.gov. There may be hundreds or
thousands of pages under a single root URL, or there may be one
or only a few.