Re: Domain names and hosting ... *OT*Terry Coombs wrote:
> Alright folks , get your fist fulla drinks , Shirley is taking orders ...
>
> I have found a domain name that I like , and am not quite sure how to go
> about registering it , how to set up a domain , all of it . I started to
> register it on godaddy , but got a bit bewildered . Can I host my own on a
> DSL connection , do I need a static IP address , do you need another drink ?
> Should I RAID my hard drives ?
> I have plenty of capacity here , computing and storage wise . I'm about to
> jump in over my head ... any help learning to swim will be appreciated !
Take note of how long your dynamic IP stays the same.
* zoneedit . com /checkip.html
If it stays the same for long periods, just point the A Record for any
domain to that IP for a domain you want to serve at home. You would
have to configure your router to send the port 80 traffic to the server
sub-IP. Not difficult at all - especially with the free linux software
out there that will run well on any older machines you might want to use
as only a server. The guys above have a setup where your server can
ping them at chosen intervals to check your IP and if it changes, they
will change your A Record automatically. You would have to transfer
your domain to use their DNS servers (free) to do this.
Check some of these out just to get a feel for the market:
* w w w .top-10-web-hosting . com /
Note that most of the above are effectively even cheaper if you register
more than one domain.
I use 1and1 to register domains for $6 per year as I can add domains
easily and the old plan I'm on is fairly malleable. I think you can get
.us or .biz domain names for cheaper. Their control panels you'll use to
set up your domains are pretty straight forward. With basic domain name
registration, you'll get one email account that you can forward anywhere
you want. You can even use a catch-all email address to collect all
email (*@domainname . com ), but then you'll get a lot of crap. I have one
webmail type access account as well, but I don't recall what triggered
me getting that option. I do like to use their SMTP server. It is
convenient to use your regular email client software of choice and send
mail as if from your domain through their SMTP server.
1and1 hosting is probably not the best in customer support. Any hosting
plan on the cheap is said to be a lower priority (traffic/access) than
the higher priced plans. The other thing that 1and1 does different is
they bill you for domains after they were due - so if you ever want to
cancel a domain - you'll have to keep track of the anniversary date and
let them know in the advance time you will agree to. Canceling a domain
with them can be time consuming as they drop the ball on many of their
customer support functions and try not to own up to it. You will talk
to some nice folks in the Philippines most times. GoDaddy on the other
hand will notify you well in advance and when you don't renew - the
domain is gone - much easier, but a few bucks more per year. GoDaddy
has much better support - in my experience.
Hope this helps.
--
JMark