Difference between name-based and IP based virtual hosting

[Ryaan J.]

What is name-based virtual hosting? What is the difference between them? I came across the term name-based virtual hosting, which made me curious to know about it and think about having a name-based or IP-based hosting service which would be better for me?

[Christian J]

Name-based virtual hosting is a hosting technique where various websites share the same IP address, and the server distinguishes between them based on the client's domain name provided in the HTTP header. In other words, the web server uses the requested domain name to identify and serve the related website content to the user.

The differences between name-based & IP-based are:

1) IP-based virtual hosts use the connection's IP address to identify the appropriate virtual host to serve, which means each host requires a unique IP address.
Name-based virtual hosting, the server depends on the hostname reported by the client as part of the HTTP headers.

2) IP-based virtual hosting is the simplest way to distinguish directives based on IP addresses since each domain has its unique IP address in this type of virtual hosting.
Name-based virtual hosting enables hosting multiple websites on a single IP address by creating various DNS records for the same IP address in the DNS database. To set this up configure your DNS server to map each hostname to the appropriate IP address and then configure your server to recognize the different hostnames. One of the benefits of name-based virtual hosting is that it helps mitigate the issue of limited IP addresses.

3) IP-based virtual hosting is often preferred for websites that require SSL encryption, as SSL certificates usually require a dedicated IP address.
Name-based virtual hosting is often more cost-effective, requiring fewer IP addresses, and is easier to set up because you only need to configure the DNS server and the web server to recognize the different hostnames.

The significant difference between the two is that name-based virtual hosting allows multiple websites to share the same IP address, whereas IP-based virtual hosting requires each website to have its unique IP address.

Choosing between IP-based and name-based hosting ultimately depends on individual needs and requirements.