A domain name is associated with the IP address of a first, URL forwarding web server within the domain name system (DNS) so that a request for a website or other resource associated with the domain name is presented to the URL forwarding web server. The URL forwarding web server accesses a file stored on a file server and determining from the contents of the file the IP address to which the domain name should resolve. The file associated with that domain name may contain information that initiates display of static or dynamic content from the URL forwarding web server. Alternately, the file may contain instructions to associate the requested domain name with the IP address of a second, destination web server that has the requested content or resource. Most preferably, the URL forwarding web server performs this access to the file server directly, without executing a script or other interface program supplementary to the URL forwarding web server. For example, the URL forwarding web server may include a module that receives a domain name, accesses the file from the file server and evaluates the contents of the file. When the file includes an IP address to which the domain name should resolve, preferred implementations of the module recognize the presence of the IP address within the file and return the IP address of the destination web server to the browser through which the user made the request.