A dedicated IP address is a numerical label that is assigned to a particular device participating in a computer network that uses the Internet Protocol.
In website hosting terms, a dedicated IP address is allocated to a specific domain at a location on the internet and means that no one else can use that address for their connection or website hosting.
The primary purpose of a dedicated IP address is to allow for the installation and use of an SSL certificate for secure communications between your domain at the server where it is hosted and users accessing your site.
As we use the latest SNI technology here at Pay Monthly Hosting there is no need to have a dedicated IP address for your SSL certificate to work. In fact we do not allocate dedicated IP addresses at all.
Note that on a shared server, this dedicated IP address relates purely to incoming connections from the internet and guarantees that anyone connecting from the internet will only communicate with your domain.
All of the outbound connections originating from your domain (for example from your scripts, email, etc) are going to be from the primary server (shared) IP address.
For example if you are using an ecommerce application protected by an SSL certificate, the dedicated IP address relates to the "front office" or customer facing functions. The primary server (shared) IP address relates to the "back office" functions and is the one that will "send" the information to your credit card processor if you are using a script or payment module to do so. This is still protected by SSL!
This is perfectly normal and is quite often misunderstood. All shared hosting plans work this way with any hosting provider. In fact this is how the majority of websites are configured and conduct business securely on the internet without incurring the cost of a dedicated server.
The only way to obtain a dedicated IP address for both inbound and outbound communication for your domain is to purchase a dedicated server plan.
