virtual host
Also found in: Acronyms.
virtual host
(networking)Most computers on the Internet have a single
IP address; however, often via special kernel
patches, a given computer can be made to respond to several
IP addresses and provide different services (typically
different Web services) on each. Each of these different IP
addresess (which generally each have their own hostname) act
as if they were distinct hosts on distinct machines, even
though they are actually all one host. Hence, they are
virtual hosts. A common use is when an Internet Service Provider "hosts" World-Wide Web or other services for
several of their customers on one computer but giving the
appearence that they are separate servers.
This article is provided by FOLDOC - Free Online Dictionary of Computing (foldoc.org)
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.
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