How hosting servers manage his single ip for thousands of domain names

[jayadratha]

There has several web hosting servers for host personal websites. Can anyone tell me how they manage it. I mean that is a server so it will have a single static IP. In this IP there has TB of hard disk space and thousands of customers use this hard disk spaces to store there website and those coustomer have unique domain. So thousands of domains names are pointing a single IP. Am i correct?? How it is possible?? DNS will point that same IP for thousands of domain names. How they manage thousands of domains names in a single IP. I think an IP can point only one domain name. Is it correct????

 

[hang-the-9]

The server that runs the web sites has an IP, but that is not the IP that is seen by the world. Hosting sites buy blocks of IPs and configure their routers with them. So they would have IP 1.2.3.4 mapped to a port which is forwarded to the server connection hosting the files for the web page.

 

[jayadratha]

Best answer selected by jayadratha.