Hey guys,

I am thinking of buying the domain name and host my site in the Personal Web Server in my PC for few months. Because it might take me few months before the entire website is ready for the public! After I am done with the website, then I will find a hosting company to hos it!

Do you think that's a good thing to do? What's the procedures of doing that? And will it be very complicated when when want to transfer that to a hosting company in the future?

Any recommendations?

Please advise!

RAY

If you mean getting your domain now, creating your web site, and then finding a host when it is ready, then yes, it makes a lot of sense.

You shouldn't waste any time getting your domain name, once you've given it some thought and chosen the right one.

There are registrars that will let you park your domain on their servers until you are ready to move it, and not charge you for anything other than the registration fee (only $13.50 with the one I use).

I've got step by step instructions on my site on what to do. Look on the right side menu at http://techcellence.net

Hey Duster,

Thanks for your info!

But I still have some questions though:

1) The cost of registering the domain name is $13.50 per year, but
-what's the cost of transferring to my server or hosting company?
-Is that called transferring a domain name? Or just merely pointing to other server?
-Does 000domains.com still have the domain name in their server? (sorry, I am new to this!)

2) If I am hosting the website with the new domain name in my PC, do I need to get approval from my ISP? I am using Comcast@Home cable modem!

Please advise.

Thanks, Ray

Ray,

I thought I would give you a step by step process for you:

1) When you have decided on a domain, like Duster said, register it straight away. I've lost a domain name in the past whilst I ummed and arred over the service I was thinking of developing. Use a good quality registrar, anyone but NSI seems to be the way to go. I personally use Dotster, as they are only $15, and everything is web based.

2) You then need a Domain Name Server (DNS) to host the actual domain. The DNS does nothing spectacular, it just resolves the domain name (e.g. www.webhostingtalk.com) (http://www.webhostingtalk.com)) to the IP address of the web server running the site. I use a free product called MyDomain, www.mydomain.com. (http://www.mydomain.com.) They allow you to point your domain name to any IP address, put up a "we're developing it" page, or redirect to another URL. They will also forward email for your domain to any email address you specify. In short, an excellent service, I use it for all my domains. Again, everything is configured through a handy web interface.

3) Find out your IP address of your cable modem. Not sure how you do that, it depends on your setup. If your running Windows 95, try WINIPCFG.EXE, or WINNT try IPCONFIG.

4) Tell your DNS to point www.yourdomain.com (http://www.yourdomain.com) to the IP address you have.

Assuming that you use the services recommended above, it would go something like this:

1) Visit Dotster (www.dotster.com), register your domain name. When asked for the name servers, enter the MyDomain name servers (ns1.mydomain.com, ns2.mydomain.com, ns3.mydomain.com, ns4.mydomain.com)

2) 48 hours after this (to allow the registration to propogate up through the ICANN registrar's database's), visit MyDomain.com. Create an account and MOVE your domain to them. This doesn't actually move your domain, they use NSI if you register through their system. This is handled in their tutorial. They will ask you to set up your domain. In essence, forward all emails to the domain to your normal email account, and POINT the domain to the IP address of your cable modem router.

You will then be active. Not sure if you need to ask your ISP, but as I understand it they won't care as long as your not eating all their bandwidth. Bear in mind that they might be suppressing it. So when you have your PWS set up on your PC and running. Dial into the internet through another ISP (or a mate's PC), and try to open http://1.2.3.4 where 1.2.3.4 is the IP address of your cable modem in their browser.

When it comes time to go live, you will not normally be charged to "move" the domain. Here you have two choices. You can either leave the management of the domain at MyDomain, so all you need to do is update your config on their site to point the domain to the IP address of the webserver provided by your hosting company. If you want to make use of POP3 accounts, etc, you will have to move the DNS to the hosting company's DNS. They will set up all the required entries for you when you sign up, you just need to update your registrar.

With Dotster, simply visit their site again, login in and edit your name server addresses. These tend to be ns1.hostingcompany.com, ns2.hostingcompany.com, etc. Your hosting company can confirm this.

With other registrar's the process might be different. For example, NSI use the antiquated email method, which is a right pain in the arse (i.e. it regularly fails!).

Either way, if you want to go down that route, remember to visit MyDomain and remove the domain from their system. Otherwise, you will have conflicting DNS entries on different systems. But before you remove it from MyDomain, allow 48 hours after changing the settings at your registrar to allow for propogation.

1) The cost is 0. You only pay for registration of the domain name, not for changing host servers.

-Is that called transferring a domain name?
Sort of. It's transferring to a new host. Registrars refer to transfer of domain as transfer of ownership from one entity to another.

-Does 000domains.com still have the domain name in their server?

As the registrar, they will have a record of it and bill for yearly renewals (the same would be true for any other registrar). Your domain name would be in the DNS (domain name system) servers, which translates domain names to IP addresses.

(sorry, I am new to this!)

No need to apologize, we were all new at some point.


2) If I am hosting the website with the new domain name in my PC, do I need to get approval from my ISP? I am using Comcast@Home cable modem!

Yes, you would need approval, a static IP address, and someone to handle DNS However, hosting your own site via cable modem and DSL is not a productive method. There is a discussion on it either here or at scriptkeeper.com. It's even worse with a cable modem than DSL.




[This message has been edited by Duster (edited 06-24-2000).]

Hey guys,

I just registered 2 domain names with 000Domains.com for $27 a year! Pretty reasonable price, right?!

Called my ISp, they said I can't host my website! Too bad. In that case, I would have to wait till I finish my website with Frontpage 2000 then host it with a hosting company. yeah, I plan to use Microsoft tools! Easier to learn than Unix platform, I guess! Any advice!

triumph595, really appreciate your time to explain the steps to me!! But I am still not fully understood the second step about the MyDomain.com thing, can you explain details to me or email me?

Duster, I like your site http://techcellence.net , I learnt lots of stuff there! thanks!

RAY

Good point Duster, forgot about the static IP address. You can get around that by not switching off your cable modem and PC whilst you are hosting off your PC, as your provider with assign you a new address when powering up.

Developing the site and hosting off your machine shouldn't cause a big problem, depends on the traffic you generate. In fact, I think its a great idea, as you can develop something you want instead of deciding on a hosting provider then finding that you are limited by what they support! For example, you decide that you need a custom CGI/ASP script to perform an essential function for the site, but the hosting provider you have already purchased doesn't support it.

However, running off it full time is probably a no-no. Not sure about the states, but the bandwidth here an ADSL (UK version of DSL) is 256Kb upstream. Whilst this gives your approximately 80Gb transfer a month, it means that you are effectively limited to 8-10 concurrent users (assuming they are connecting to the Internet off a modem) before they see some serious performance degredation.

Ray,

I'll drop you an email.

Hey all,

Want to make this clear....After registering the domain name with 000Domains.com, I don't really need to find a hosting company to park my domain name right?! I can directly find someone to host my website after I finish developing my website right?

RAY

Correct. Your domains are parked now at 000domains at no charge. When your web site has been developed to the point that you are ready to unveil it to the public and have it go live, then you find a host and transfer your domains to it.

I consider it a better way than the plethora of sites I've seen where the owner announces them yet there's nothing to see but an "under construction" sign, and sometimes not even that. It's much ado about nothing.

Actually, to buy a domain name and not use it, meaning putting it on name servers and not using it is to "reserve" the domain....if you have a domain on an IP on a functioning site and you put a 2nd domain on the same IP then that is "parking"


Too many people and hosts mix this up!

Unlike boo.com. They're an online fashion retailer here in the UK. They got hold of a massive amount of capital, and instead of investing it in developing the site, they began their marketing campaing. Only their site simply stated, we're still developing the site! I'm not talking a small marketing campaign, I mean big billboards, TV ads, the lot.

When they did finally get the site working, after at least 3 rebuilds, they ran out of money and went bust. Great business model!

Anyway, one last note. Before getting too involved in developing your site, get an idea of your budget for hosting costs. Then do a bit of research into the average functionality you will get for that money. Then develop to that functionality. Otherwise you might use a feature that hosting providers insist is an advanced feature, and charge you more.

Not that it really matters much, Greg, but it is you who is mixed up in this case. Some of the registrar sites even use the term domain parking for what they do.

Reserving it simply means registering it so it won't be taken by anyone else. What you call parking is what others refer to as pointing. An example of pointing is 000domains.com (who is one of the registrars who mentions domain name parking). They have 2 domains that point to the same site, 000domains.net and 000domains.org

If you think about what "parking" means, to put to the side and not use, it is clear why your definition is wrong. It has also been common practice in many industries to refer to "parking" as registered with a company but not used for awhile. Licensed occupations like mortage brokers, commodities and stock brokers, and others, may "park" their license with a former employer or another company if they take a hiatus.

[This message has been edited by Duster (edited 06-23-2000).]

Triumph,

I've been keeping an eye out on Boo.com since its inception.... They had a large number of reasons that contributed to them failing, but one of the main ones was the usability factor... You *had* to install Flash to get into the site, then navigate through several links to find the correct product - it was basically a hassle and they're a very good example of 'let's release it then fix it' instead of the other way around.

Oops, this is off-topic isn't it? :eek: Methinks I should put myself on a thread probation.... :o

[This message has been edited by BC (edited 06-23-2000).]

That actually sounds like a good Idea.. I think I will have to do the same. My ISP shouldn't mind, and if they do, they dont want my service that bad. lol..

The question I have for all you web developers. Is there a book, or a web page, or anything out there that my husband can buy/look at that will teach him the Terminology of web design? Like "Sub Domain" etc.. VERY basic? I just get in and do the work.. I personally don't know alot about it, but hes wanting to get serious about it, and I just want to keep myself basic... Any suggestions???


Thanks

I don't knwo aobut a book, but I've got an ever growing list of terms on my site , http://techcellence.net (right side menu).

The term sub-domain is often misused by some hosting companies. An example of the correct usage is http://blinddate.excite.com/, where blinddate is a subdomain of the domain excite.com

A misuse is when hosting companies refer to domains pointing to sub directories on an account of someone who hosts several domains from his or her virtual server account. That is not a sub-domain, though they call it that.

Well If you want to get technical....

Its actually a 3rd level domain
(.com/net/org etc being level 1)
(excite being level 2)
(billy being level 3)
thus creating billy.excite.com
Unless I'm mistaken (heh its happend before :)

Sincerely
Daniel Pearson
UltraSpeed USA

It''s a breath mint. No, it's a candy mint. No, it's both.

It's a sub-domain AND a third level domain.

Cnames and some even call it a vanity domain (though I have seen http://domain.com/vanity described as a vanity domain as well). SO long as they give an example of what they're talking about, I don't much mind. I have never said to anyone, "Check out my new SUB-domain, blah blah blah".

Need a term defined and/or clarified? Might want to ask somewhere else. We will gladly give you the answer and so much more. :)

Dan, yer wrong mate.....

a domain is either 1 level below a TLD (.com etc) or 2 levels below a CLD (.uk etc) Therefore, a domain (which means a network of interelated objects) can be mydomain.com, mydomain.co.uk, etc.

a sub domain is a subset of the main domain, not just one machine. Therefore, www.mydomain.com, (http://www.mydomain.com,) mail.mydomain.com, etc are single entities under the mydomain.com domain. Where as www.ny.mydomain.com, (http://www.ny.mydomain.com,) www.london.mydomain.com (http://www.london.mydomain.com) are hosts within the ny.mydomain.com and london.mydomain subdomains of mydomain.com.

The full name of the machine, whether it is www.mydomain.com, (http://www.mydomain.com,) www.ny.mydomain.com (http://www.ny.mydomain.com) etc, is the fully qualified domain name. i.e. host name + domain name.

People get this confused because of the fashion to drop the host name from the beginning of an address, and just use the domain name to point to a default host.

Therefore billy.excite.com is a host, named billy in the excite.com domain. If you stated www.billy.excite.com, (http://www.billy.excite.com,) then www is the host, billy the sub domain and excite.com the domain.

Nice to see a hosting company get this wrong isn't it! Inspires all sorts of confidence!

*wonders why he had to be insulted*

Big deal I was wrong. I'm sure everyone will get one net term different. Thats no need to insult me or my business. If you would like to go write a list of every internet term and define it for all of us then go for it and I will gladly read it. If you noticed I said I could be mistaken. But that still does not give you the right to insult me or my business!

Sincerely
Daniel Pearson~
UltraSpeed USA~

give the guy a break... ;o)

hmmm...but sometimes it makes me think why a hosting company doesn't know this...

------------------
Best Regards,
Scott Intarapanont
______________________
iModus - interactive methods (http://imodus.irebound.com/)
www.imodusweb.com (http://www.imodusweb.com/)

I agree with Scott, we should give Dan a break. Anyways, I believe we should keep this thread on topic.

Thank you for the hints.. But all I was looking for was advice on a web page, or a book for the hubby to read.. heh. I didnt want to start a war.. lolol

Anyway, thanks for the info people I will go down to the book store this week and look around..

Paula

This can help you find the right book. http://www.mcp.com/publishers/que/ I've always liked the books from Que for their methodical explanations and well written style. Of course, you can always try amazon.com and bn.com (Barnes and Noble) Que is computer books only so it may be easier to find a good title through them.

Dan, wasn't an insult.... just a gentle dig....