A server administrator is tasked with consolidating three separate public websites onto a single new web server. The server has only one public IP address. To ensure that incoming web requests are routed to the correct website based on the domain name entered by a user, which of the following features must the administrator configure on the web server?
The correct answer is host headers. Name-based virtual hosting, which uses host headers, is a method that allows a single web server to host multiple websites on one IP address. When a user's browser sends an HTTP request, it includes a 'Host' header field specifying the domain name of the desired site. The web server reads this header and routes the request to the correct website's content directory.
DNS round robin is a load-balancing technique, not a method for differentiating sites on a single server. It distributes traffic across multiple servers with different IP addresses for the same domain name.
Port forwarding is a network configuration on a router or firewall that directs traffic destined for a specific port to a specific internal IP address and port. It does not differentiate traffic based on the hostname requested.
Directory browsing is a web server feature that, when enabled, lists the files and folders within a directory if no default index page (like index.html) is found. It is not used for routing requests to different websites.