More often than not, when you are accessing websites on the internet, you will come across www2 instead of www in front of the domain name. So, in this case, what is www2 then? Why do they keep appearing from site to site? And is it safe for us to engage with these websites?
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What is WWW2?
WWW – short for “World Wide Web” – is well known as the naming convention prefix used to identify the referring address of a web page.
It is a hostname that you use to get into the specific servers holding a website’s webpage.
You might need other prefixes such as mail, FPT, or NNTP (Usenet news server) to access different services. For example, when you type in “ftp.[example].com”, you will get in the FPT server, and for “mail. [example].com” you will access the mail server, etc.
In favor of the web pages admin convenience, they could denote different servers as well.
Useful information: Clash Of Clans Server IPs
Why is there a number 2 after WWW?
To put it simply, www and www2 are subdomains. To the browser, other than the fact that they belonged to a larger domain, they have no special meaning whatsoever.
More than anything, the above subdomain is mainly used today as it has been around for the longest time and many web developers are familiar with it.
Wwwn[number] is an easy load balancing technique that allows admins to add more servers to deal with the load from internet users visiting the site.
Using this technique, admins can easily load balance among servers and redirect users to the appropriate subdomain.
With www[number], it will not be necessary to worry about subsequent requests because once the client has been sent to the subdomain, they are then dealing with www1 or www2, etc.
Though adding more servers is a simple job, in terms of subsequent requests, it is judged to be non-persistent.
Is WW2 Secure?
The answer would be yes! Numbered websites are generally harmless to the internet users. In case a server is available again, you can always redirect back to www.
Though numbered websites are quite harmless, make sure that the rest of the domain is the right one you need and not something entirely different.
If you have any suspicions about the domain’s genuinely, double-check it right away to avoid any harm. Never opens links that got their original name altered or come from unreliable sources.
Don’t fright right away if you spot a number appearing after www once browsing a website. You never know what is going on behind the scene with these websites.
There are many more refined load balancing techniques nowadays instead of using www[number], but if this method works well with the site, it is understandable for them to stick with this one.
Why Sites Begin with WWW2?
Though it is getting less and less common now, some websites, especially older and larger ones, still use www[number] format for their site.
WWW[number] is used as hostnames for various physical serves, or more often than not, admins will use this format to name their subdomains.
Although It can be located on a similar site but in separate sections, now necessarily on different machines.
Even more so, if we are getting in the hindmost case, this method probably acts as a load balancing technique for the websites. Every server might only handle a particular number of users without lagging.
So while you are typing the address of the website and getting through to the sites, including or not needing the WWW part on the search bar, it is highly possible that your request may have come to interact with a load balancer checking each server status.
Once this happens, the load balancer will decide which subdomain you will be sent to if it is already too packed in the main domain. For example, you could be redirected to the www2 subdomain if the main one users number has already reached the limit.
There are still some explanations for why you are being sent to a subdomain: The main server is suffering from troubles, and it decided you are better off at the backup domain.
It could also be that the main one is getting some up tests or upgrades, and they think redirecting you to the subdomain is the best option.
All and all, you are basically visiting a similar site. Though what might happen if you want to go back to the, let’s say www2.[website-name].com later on, the load balancer may send you to the main domain site, as in www.[website-name].com .
Conclusion
You have reached the end of our article! Now, after reading the whole article, have you found the answer to the question What is www2 yet?
Since the beginning of the age of webpages, this technique of www[number].[website-name].com for load balancing has been used by lots and lots of sites, especially bigger ones.
Don’t be too worried when you spot www2 instead of www; your computer won’t be getting any viruses!
Having www2 prefix means the admin has intentionally redirected users to the subdomain of the website they wish to get to, still with full access to the information the clients wish to seek, but also make sure the limit users for their main domain is well kept.
This helps the client have more of a pleasant browsing as well as preventing the lagging of the websites.
We hope you have found our article helpful! Stay tuned for more interesting articles from our website!
See also: Internet Protocol Address (IP Address): What Is Its Purpose?
