virtual host


virtual host

(networking)Most computers on the Internet have a singleIP address; however, often via special kernelpatches, a given computer can be made to respond to severalIP addresses and provide different services (typicallydifferent Web services) on each. Each of these different IPaddresess (which generally each have their own hostname) actas if they were distinct hosts on distinct machines, eventhough they are actually all one host. Hence, they arevirtual hosts. A common use is when an Internet Service Provider "hosts" World-Wide Web or other services forseveral of their customers on one computer but giving theappearence that they are separate servers.

virtual host

(1) On the Web, a server that contains multiple websites, each with its own domain name. With the first version of the Web protocol (HTTP 1.0), each website on a virtual host was assigned a unique IP address. HTTP Version 1.1 eliminated that requirement. Contrast with virtual server.

(2) An ISP that hosts websites. See Web hosting.