Each server comes connected to the Internet and has its own identifying name, which is what we call the IP address, which is the direct way to connect to this server, like the names that people give to themselves and are a means of communicating and getting to know each other. However, this identifying address differs into a type called the Shared IP address, and the second type is A dedicated IP address, also known as Dedicated IP.
What is the difference between them and how to use each type?
In this article, we will learn about the concept of an IP address, the difference between it and a domain name, and how more than one website can share the same IP address. You will also learn about the benefits of using an IP address that is dedicated to your website only and cannot be shared with any other website except under your management. We will also discuss the explanation. The practical way to change the site’s IP address to a properly designated address on WordPress sites.
The concept of IP address versus domain name
Basically, as we mentioned in the introduction, every website published on the Internet has its own identifying name, which is the IP address, as we agreed.
Now imagine that Facebook’s IP address is 69.63.187.18 or one of its own addresses. Would that be better than having the site’s address written in letters that are easy for all visitors to remember, such as www.facebook.com ?
A domain name is the gateway through which a web browser connects to the IP address of any website you wish to visit or connect to in some way.
Therefore, domain names, known as DNS for short, were created based on the phrase Domain name servers, which is the system responsible for assigning a readable and easy-to-remember domain name for each IP address published on the Internet. You will still be able to connect to any site through its IP address as well, but the domain name It makes it easier for you instead of typing a lot of consecutive numbers in order to connect to the server or the site.
The difference between a shared IP address and a dedicated IP address
You can easily identify the idea of a shared IP address, which means that it is one basic address shared by a large number of Internet sites, but with different domain names for each site separately, by logging into your shared hosting account (if you are using shared hosting). You will find the shared IP address clear in front of you in the Cpanel hosting control panel:
This means that the IP address of your site is a shared address, meaning that it is located on the same server as a group of other Internet sites. This is the idea of shared hosting, where the same server is divided into a large number of spaces and a domain name is allocated to each host, but the The server’s IP address is only one!
The presence of a large number of sites sharing the same IP address means that when one of the site owners located on the same server as your site commits any fraudulent action, for example sending fraudulent e-mail messages and receiving a large number of reports, then in this case if he uses the server’s IP address in this Unethical action.
.. The e-mail service provider programs may implement a comprehensive ban on the server’s IP address, and this action may be affected by your site even though it has a different domain name, but in the end it shares the IP address with the rest of the sites on the same server, and this is The most common threat to sites that use a shared IP address with other sites on the same server.
Therefore, we do not recommend relying on shared hosting in all cases .
The other type is a Dedicated IP address. This means that it is an address dedicated only to your website, and no other site will have the right to share this address with your site except under your management and control. Therefore, you will be responsible for the reputation of the IP address, and at the same time your site will not be affected by fraudulent address blocking services in In this case, you will be reassured that there is no black hat person who is doing unethical actions, putting the reputation of your site address at risk.
In the case of shared hosting, you can change the IP address of your site to an address dedicated to you only by purchasing a Dedicated IP address from within the hosting control panel, as the image shows:
Benefits of using a dedicated IP address for your site
After you learned the basic difference between a shared and a dedicated IP address, you came to the idea that the dedicated address gives your site a higher degree of protection, and also protects it from falling into the comprehensive bans that are applied at the level of servers that contain some sites whose owners engage in some illegal activities. Ethical, let us learn about the most important advantages of using a Dedicated IP address for your website:
1. Easy to navigate between domain name and IP address
If your site has an address dedicated to it only, you will have the ability to easily connect to the website using the dedicated IP address. Site owners need this procedure if there is a problem linking the domain name to the server, as well as in FTP connections and others.
In the case of shared hosting, you do not have the right to use the shared IP address exclusively, as all website owners that are located on the same server share this address by using the domain names of a separate website until one of the website owners obtains a dedicated address and finds out from the compliance department the address. Shared IP from other sites.
3. Reduce the risk of blocking mail messages sent in the name of the site
If you rely on email marketing to market your business online , it is important to use a dedicated IP address.
The following image shows that the site owner’s messages are not authenticated to users, and are often placed in the spam folder:
If one IP address’s email messages are determined to be unsafe, your messages will likely also be exposed to threat negation if your site is on a shared address within the same server.
Therefore, when you have an IP address dedicated to you only, not to the rest of the other sites, you will have the primary responsibility for the reputation of your email, but this does not mean that if you obtain a dedicated address and then violate the terms and policies of email messages, you will not be banned! But you certainly will not feel wronged because your site was blocked due to an unethical action carried out by another site manager.
Also, one of the ways to avoid blocking e-mail messages is to use add-ons to send e-mail messages based on a private server, and do not rely on your site’s server to perform the sending and receiving of e-mail messages.
3. Obtain an efficient SSL certificate
When your website is located on a shared IP address, this does not mean that it is not ready to install an SSL security certificate , as with the advancement of software methods and tools, it has become very easy to install SSL certificates on the website that operate on a shared address.
When you have a dedicated IP address only for you, the efficiency of the SSL certificate will be higher, especially since old web browsers still have some problems reading the SSL certificate on sites that do not have a dedicated IP address.
Also, in terms of SEO, it will be beneficial to have a dedicated IP address, as this gives a good impression to search engines and spiders that crawl the site’s links.
Officially, Google or its search engine did not announce that having a shared IP address might cause you harm due to the presence of a site that violates unethical policies on the same server IP address. This matter was officially explained by a specialist at Google before:
But in general, it would be beneficial for your website to have a completely dedicated IP address so that you do not have to worry about doubts about the shared address negatively affecting your website and its reputation among search engines.
4. Get faster performance with a dedicated IP address
As we mentioned previously, the shared IP address is available to share with a large number of sites, which may reach thousands of sites that use or refer to the same IP address.
This may cause a relative slowness in the speed of loading and opening your site to visitors, because the server needs some time to recognize the address that each domain name that shares the same IP address points to, which may cause a noticeable slowdown in the speed of opening the site to visitors. Visitors.
However, with a dedicated IP address, the interface will be one and exclusively known, and this will certainly reflect on the speed of opening the site to your visitors, which will reflect positively on increasing the period of the visitor’s stay on your site, increasing the rate of conversions, and perhaps improving the ranking within the search results in various search engines.
Get a dedicated IP address instead of a shared one
If you plan to purchase a dedicated server or VPS hosting, you will often be assigned a dedicated IP address by default without any additional action from you.
But if you are already on a shared hosting plan, your site’s IP address is often shared with the rest of the sites on the server. In this case, you can access technical support and write to them in order to change the IP address to a dedicated address, which is something done by support. The hosting company’s technician.
Some companies provide an easy option to change the IP address to a custom address from within the hosting control panel. This often takes within 48 hours for the change to be fully read on all links to your site.
Companies specializing in cloud hosting, such as DigitalOcean, for example, provide you from the beginning with an IP address allocated exclusively to your server only:
The prices of a dedicated IP address range on average from 2 to 50 US dollars and perhaps more, and it is often better for you from the beginning to obtain VPS hosting, as you get a dedicated address with it, and this option will be better than being on shared hosting and purchasing a dedicated IP address.
How to replace a domain name with a dedicated IP address
If the purpose of obtaining a custom address is to replace it with the current domain name that is assigned to your website, you can change the domain name and replace it so that it appears instead of the domain name within the search bar in the web browser as follows:
You can replace the domain name with a custom IP address by changing the website link from within the WordPress control panel by going: Settings << General
Then write the IP address instead of the domain name of the site
Changing the URL within the WordPress control panel is not sufficient to replace the domain name with the custom IP address, as you must also change the link name within the WordPress databases, which you can access through PhpMyAdmin within the hosting control panel.
The WordPress database will open for you, inside which you will find an Options table , where there is a field to change the site link, which are siteurl and home . You can click on the edit button next to each of them to replace the domain name of your site with the custom IP address, and thus the custom IP address will be the primary way to connect to your site instead. From domain name:
Conclusion
In the past, almost all websites used to operate with a dedicated IP address, but with the increase in the number of websites, there has been sharing the same address with large numbers of websites in order to save the number of IP addresses used and also to save costs in some cases, in addition to the advantages that website owners obtained from using IP addresses are shared, but there are many risks resulting from this development.
In general, using a dedicated IP address keeps you away from many of the negative consequences resulting from using a shared address, and gives you more freedom to manage your site and improve the level of security and trust.
