How good of a feature is an IP for a host?

[Magic2K2]

I'm comparing servus.ws plan 1 to valuablehost.com plan 2. They are similar in most respects, but Servus offers an IP. I would think that would increase my site's speed a lot? correct?

Correction: I am looking at Servus.ws yearly special ($30) vs. ValuableHost plan 2 ($26)

[niv]

having your own IP doesn't mean anything other than that you have another way to access your site. The speed will be EXACTLY the same.

[d99janh]

Originally posted by needcgispace
having your own IP doesn't mean anything other than that you have another way to access your site. The speed will be EXACTLY the same.

Hmmmm, if you use the IP instead of a domain name you could skip the dns-lookup, and save (very little) time.... or am I wrong? :confused:

[Robert]

The purpose of an IP is more than just being able to see your site, with a static IP (having your own IP), you can have wildcards enabled (whatever.yourdomain.com goes to yourdomain.com), you have have Anonymous FTP enabled, you can have SSL on that IP and more. Plus you can point multiple domains to your IP (you can also point them to your domain).

But mainly people want them just because they want them. They want to be able to have their own 12 digit # on the Internet.
(ie. 216.234.172.228)

[ljprevo]

Only problem I see with IP's in the future is ARIN (American Registry for Internet Numbers) http://www.arin.net/ is looking at cracking down on the distribution of these numbers because the supply is getting low, or they claim it is. I feel in the future getting your hands on a Static IP is going to get harder. I am on the Virtual Web Hosting Policy Mailing List http://www.arin.net/mailinglists/vwp/ where we have had many discussions about this. Esp. limiting secruity by being able to offer SSL.

[LastActionHero]

If I'm not mistakes SSL can be offered to customers unsing virtual hosting also. All the host has to do is set up subdomains/subdirs on a site using a diffrenet IP address something like

www.securesite/~username

normal site is www.sitehost.com and all domains on the server share a single IP.

[Robert]

Yes.. you can offer your clients SSL through your site, but some clients want their own SSL Server https://www.theirdomain.com to make it more professional.

As far as IPs running out, it's possible. Maybe they can add more digits.. xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx

[gyrbo]

Isn't there a way to make them go to 999.999.999.999? For both of these Options, there would need to be a different TCP/IP protocol.

[curiousity]

Originally posted by robert
The purpose of an IP is more than just being able to see your site, with a static IP (having your own IP), you can have wildcards enabled (whatever.yourdomain.com goes to yourdomain.com), you have have Anonymous FTP enabled, you can have SSL on that IP and more. Plus you can point multiple domains to your IP (you can also point them to your domain).

But mainly people want them just because they want them. They want to be able to have their own 12 digit # on the Internet.
(ie. 216.234.172.228)

I still don't understand the purpose of wildcards. You said that whatever.yourdomain.com goes to yourdomain.com, then what is good about that. The purpose of having a subdomain is to have a different web address right? Then why would you want it to go to your main domain name when people type in the subdomain?

So what is the disadvantages of having static IP?

[Robert]

If you create a subdomain on your server, whatever.yourdomain.com, than it's a real site. But let's say someone goes to mail.yourdomain.com and that subdomain doesn't exist, than it takes them to your main site, yourdomain.com. if the subdomain exists, it works, if it doesn't, it takes them to your main site. In order to run a redirection service (--------, wzr.net, jwdx.com) you need wildcards enabled.

[Chicken]

Most commonly people like to set up a wildcard to hit the main domain so they can install an index.cgi script that resolves first (instead of an index.html page), which redirects the visitor based on the subdomain typed in.

You type in: bob.domain.com
Index.cgi redirects to http://www.domain.com/bob

You type in: jim.domain.com
Index.cgi redirects to http://www.domain.com/jim