In this guide, we will explain what an IP and a domain are and why they are important!
What is an IP?
An IP (Internet Protocol) address is a unique numerical address that is used to identify/find a device (in this case your server) on the internet (much like how you would use a building address to find a location in the world).
IPv4 addresses are made up of 4 numbers separated by a period. Each number can range from 0 to 255. This means that the full IP address range starts at 0.0.0.0 and ends at 255.255.255.255 (that's 4,294,967,296 different IPv4 addresses).
You will also find that your IP address on the panel is followed by a colon and 5 numbers. This is your servers port and is used (along with your servers IP address) to find your server on the internet and connect to it via your Minecraft client when you try to connect. If you have purchased a Dedicated IP for one our Minecraft server plans, you will have the port '25565'. You can learn more about dedicated IPs here:
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It's worth mentioning at this point that there are two different types of IP address:
- IPv4: This is the most common type of IP address you will come across and is the type of IP address you will be given with any DedicatedMC service to connect to your Minecraft server.
- IPv6: This is a newer type of IP address that has been becoming more and more common over the past few years in order to prepare for the long-anticipated issue of running out of IPv4 address combinations (as mentioned earlier, IPv4 has 4,294,967,296 different addresses, whereas IPv6 has 340,282,366,920,938,463,463,374,607,431,768,211,456 different addresses!).
You can find the IP address your server has been given by clicking the eye icon next to 'IP' under 'Server Information'.
What is a domain?
A domain can be used as another, more human-friendly, way to connect to your Minecraft server without having to remember the IP address you were given with your DedicatedMC server.
A domain is made up of two parts (separated by a period). The part before the period is called the second level domain (SLD) and the part after that period is called the top level domain (TLD).
Your domain can then be pointed via DNS records (the link between your servers IP and the domain) to your servers IP address so your players can connect to your server with a domain rather than the IP address provided with your DMC server.
When registering your domain with a domain registrar such as Namecheap or Porkbun (you can even buy domains directly through DedicatedMC) you will have the option to choose both the SLD and the TLD provided they are available.
DedicatedMC also provides free subdomains to its clients utilizing the Minecraft plans. They all have subdomain ending with "dedimc.io".
Different combinations of SLD and TLD will have different prices based on the market price of the TLD and SLD. For example, shorter SLDs that contain dictionary words will typically cost more than a longer SLD. As there are many different factors to determine the price of the domain, it's best to just visit a registrars website and have a play with different combinations of SLD and TLD to find the perfect domain that fits your budget!
Once you have purchased your domain, you can follow these guides to point your domain to your DedicatedMC server:
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