Domain, DNS and hosting: what is the difference?
A website and its email rest on three separate services. The domain is the name you register, the DNS is the set of directions that says where the name points, and the hosting is the server that holds the site and the mailboxes. Each can be with a different provider and each renews on its own date. When the domain lapses, the website and email stop working even though the hosting is paid and running, which is why the domain renewal is the one never to miss.
The domain: the name you register
A domain such as yourbusiness.co.za is a name registered in your business's name for a set period, usually a year at a time. Three parties are involved:
| Party | What it does | For a .co.za name |
|---|---|---|
| Registry | Keeps the database of every name under an extension and publishes it to the internet | ZA Registry Consortium (ZARC), for co.za, org.za, net.za and web.za |
| Registrar | Registers and renews names on your behalf | Your provider, such as Noiz |
| Registrant | The person or business the name is registered to | You |
Above the registry, the .za Domain Name Authority (ZADNA) regulates the whole .za space under the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act. Generic names such as .com follow the rules of ICANN.
A domain is not bought outright. The registry's own policies describe a registration as akin to a licence to use the name, which stays with the registrant for as long as it is renewed.
DNS: the directions
The Domain Name System (DNS) turns a name into the addresses computers use. When someone types your domain into a browser, or sends you an email, their computer asks a resolver, and the resolver follows a chain of directions to the answer:
- The registry's servers say which nameservers hold the records for your domain.
- Those nameservers hold the DNS zone: the list of records for the name.
- The records give the answers, such as the address of the web server (an A or AAAA record) and the servers that receive your mail (MX records).
Setting the nameservers at your registrar is what connects the name to its zone. The registry publishes them, and every lookup starts there. The .za registry needs at least two nameservers for each domain and checks them when a name is registered.
The zone is where most day-to-day changes happen: pointing the website at a new server, adding a mail record, or adding the TXT records that prove to Google or Microsoft that you own the name. Our journal article on how DNS works covers the record types, and why changes take time to reach everyone.
Hosting: the house the directions lead to
Hosting is the server space that stores and runs the website and the mail: the files, the databases, the mailboxes and the control panel you manage them from. If the domain is the address, hosting is the building at that address.
Hosting can be with the same company as the domain, or with a different one. What joins them is the DNS: the records in the zone point the name at the hosting.
How the three fit together
| Service | What it is | Who usually provides it | How it renews |
|---|---|---|---|
| Domain | The registered name | A registrar | Yearly |
| DNS | The nameservers and the zone of records | The host, the registrar or a DNS provider | With whichever service provides it |
| Hosting | The server for the website and mail | A hosting provider | Monthly or yearly, on its own date |
Because the three renew on different cycles, the invoices arrive at different times. A business that pays the hosting every month can easily forget the one domain invoice a year, and that is the one that takes everything else down with it.
What happens when a domain is not renewed
When a domain lapses, the registry stops publishing its nameservers. Resolvers can no longer find the zone, so the website stops loading and email stops arriving. The hosting is still there, still paid for, and unreachable.
A .co.za name
The .za registry takes a lapsed name through fixed stages, and sends a notice to the registrant and the registrar at each one:
| Stage | Length | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Pending suspension | 5 days | The name still works and can be renewed |
| Pending deletion | 5 days | The name drops out of the DNS: website and email stop. It can still be renewed |
| Closed redemption (expired names) | 20 days | The name can be restored only by the same registrar, with an extra redemption fee, and cannot be transferred |
| Deleted | The name returns to the pool, and anyone can register it |
In practice, a .co.za website and its email stop working about five days after the name lapses, and the name is open to anyone after about thirty. A deleted name cannot be reinstated, only registered again from scratch by whoever gets there first.
A .com or other generic name
ICANN's Expired Registration Recovery Policy requires the registrar to send at least two reminders before expiry, about a month and about a week ahead, and another within five days after. After expiry the registrar must stop the name working for at least the last eight days that it can still be renewed, so the owner notices. Once a name is deleted, the registry holds it in a 30-day redemption grace period, during which the original registrant can still restore it, followed by five days of pending delete. Then it is released.
Why a lapsed name rarely comes back
Domain names are first come, first served. Some businesses watch for names that are about to be released and register them the moment they are free, a practice known as drop catching. A name with an established website, links pointing at it and years of email behind it is exactly the kind they look for. Getting it back afterwards, if it is possible at all, means buying it from the new holder or a formal dispute.
How to keep the three in step
- Keep the registrant email current. Renewal notices, registry notices and transfer votes go there. A mailbox nobody reads is how domains lapse quietly.
- Leave automatic renewal on, and keep a working payment method on the account.
- Know who runs your DNS. If it is a different provider from your host, make sure both accounts stay open.
- Write the dates down. The domain renewal, the hosting renewal and any DNS service each have one.
Domains and DNS at Noiz
At Noiz the domain, the DNS and the hosting can sit in one account. Names are registered one year at a time with you as the registrant and renew automatically unless you tell us not to, with the renewal invoice issued ahead of the date and a reminder by email before expiry. Noiz is an accredited registrar for .co.za and the other .za names, and registers other extensions through an international registrar.
For the DNS, you have three choices:
- Noiz nameservers on a hosting plan. Point the domain at ns1.noiz.co.za and ns2.noiz.co.za, and the zone sits in the Plesk panel next to the website and the mail. Our guide on pointing your domain to Noiz hosting shows how.
- DNS Only, for a name without hosting: a zone on our servers that you run from your account, which upgrades into a hosting plan later.
- The Cloudflare add-on, for a hosted domain: your domain's DNS on Cloudflare, kept in sync with the records in your Noiz control panel, and switched on, off and configured for you at a set level. With proxying on, Cloudflare filters traffic before it reaches the server.
To see the price of every extension, search a name or bring one you already have, visit Domains at Noiz.
Sources
Checked 19 October 2026.
Standards, registry and regulators
- RFC 9499, DNS Terminology
- ZADNA: our core mandate
- ZA Registry Consortium (ZARC)
- ZARC Published Policies and Procedures, version 12.0 (2025): sections 5.2, 5.3, 6 and Schedule B
- ZARC status mapping
- ICANN Expired Registration Recovery Policy
- ICANN: life cycle of a typical gTLD domain name
Noiz
- Domains at Noiz
- Specific Terms and Conditions, section 5
- How to Point Your Domain to Noiz Hosting
- Domain name and hosting (Noiz Ireland, the original essay)
Note: while some of this content was produced with the help of AI, the final editing has been done by a real human being.
