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Using a domain name

So far, we have used IP addresses such as '127.0.0.1' or 'localhost'. A domain name such as 'mycompany.com' can be purchased online from a domain name registrar like NameCheap . After choosing an available domain name on its website, you need to point it to the public/external IP address (not the LAN address!) of your server. Your public IP address looks like 175.141.54.183 and can be obtained on the website https://canyouseeme.org/.

A public IP address can be static or dynamic. A static IP address does not change over time and is thus straightforward to use. If instead, your ISP offers you a dynamic IP address that is changing regularly (perhaps once daily), you need to configure your modem router to update periodically DNS (Domain Name System) records worldwide. As some of the manufacturers don't provide such a service, you may need to use a third-party managed DNS service such as no-ip.com (also a domain name registrar), which involves downloading and running a DNS client.

Alternatives include DNS Made Easy, GoDaddy Premium DNS, Imperva, Dyn, Neustar UltraDNS, Amazon Route 53, CloudFlare, Google Cloud DNS, DNSimple, and Akamai. There are several popular dynamic DNS clients in use, such as DDclient and INADYN.

Normally the domain name registrar allows you to create subdomain names such as subdomain.domain.com as well.