I'm planning on getting my own domain name, so i can get a web site adress and email adress that wont change when i change my mail account provider. But i have some troubles figuring out how all this works. Does anyone know where i can find some general information on domain name registration, hosting, ... Some questions i'm having:
- can i register my domain name with one company this year, and with another next year without this having influence to where my (sub)domain points or to where my mail is handled?
- what happens when my host goes banckrupt or i want to change host, how do i do that?
- on whois of a page you get several adresses, what do they all mean?
...

i have a lot of questions like these, where can i find such information?

Try looking at

http://www.register.com/faq/index.cgi?1|2690870962|

It seems pretty complete.

poncho

Originally posted by nic76
1. - can i register my domain name with one company this year, and with another next year without this having influence to where my (sub)domain points or to where my mail is handled?
2. - what happens when my host goes banckrupt or i want to change host, how do i do that?
3. - on whois of a page you get several adresses, what do they all mean?
...

i have a lot of questions like these, where can i find such information?

Well, I'm not sure where to send you, other than to say you are welcome to ask questions here, and please don't feel as if they are too basic. Many on the forum are quite experienced and are willing to take time to answer your questions, when they can.

1. If you mean you want to know if things will stay the same if you transfer registrars (the place where the domain is actually registered, ie: NetworkSolutions, Bulkregister, 000domains, etc. - from one registrar to another), then the short answer is nothing will change.

The long answer is that some registrars offer advanced features that allow you to set these things up *at* the registrar. Changing registrars could affect this, but still it (the domain's settings) is nothing that can't be transfered, in some way or another.

2. If you want to change hosts, you simply sign up for a new host, have them set up your domain on both their nameservers and on the server, and once everything is correct (files uploaded, etc.), you make the change at your registrar. If your domain's nameservers were:

ns1.oldhost.com
ns2.oldhost.com

change to:

ns1.newhost.com
ns2.newhost.com

-and by a couple of days, the changes will take affect and you're domain will now be pointing to your new host.

3. On a whois page, you generally get...

Registrant: You, the person who 'owns' the domain and registered it.
Admin: Often same as the Registrant, the person who is to control the domain.
Tech contact: The contact responsible for setting up the domain on the server and DNS.
Billing: The one with the money to pay the bill.

Often these are all listed as the same person, and that isn't a problem. It just means that one person will get all email (there really isn't ever any besides billing) regarding the domain.

I'm planning on getting my own domain name, so i can get a web site adress and email adress that wont change when i change my mail account provider.
That's the same idea I had when I started buying a domain name 5 yrs ago

But i have some troubles figuring out how all this works. Does anyone know where i can find some general information on domain name registration, hosting, ... Some questions i'm having:
I don't remember exactly where I learned all these. In the older days, when there was no browser forum. We did search on searchengines for the certain keywords we want to find out information or asking question on usenet.
Todays, there are several more tools. Such as learning from forum like this one, and there are alot of kind people will answer you. Luckily, You have come to the biggest knowledge mining on the web, WebHosting Talk forum, web hosting and domains related. Also, I am more than willing to explain you by emailing. Feel free to ask no matter how basic it is, we all have to start somewhere. :)


can i register my domain name with one company this year, and with another next year without this having influence to where my (sub)domain points or to where my mail is handled?
The company whom you can register a domain name with is called Registrar. There're many registrars on the web. The oldest one is NetworkSolutions which is the most expensive for the least support. :stickout You can pay cheaper for a domain name these days. Prices are various from $35 to lower per year or $70 per 2 years at NetworkSolutions. Domains are from the same source wherever you buy it.
Domain name you own will need to be renew each year before it's expired, someone may take over it, otherwise. You can renew your domain with any registrar, called Transfering Domain to Another Registrar. Technically, there is no fee for transfering from 1 registrar to another, but you will have to pay for 1 year renewal at the price of that new registrar. For example, June 1st, 2001 You bought a domain name from NetworkSolutions $70 which will be good for 2 years (good til June 1st, 2003). 1year later (June1st, 2002) you feel you want to transfer your domain to another registrar where will save you a bit of money for domain which is $20 per year. So you renew your domain name there. That means your domain next expiration date will be June1st, 2004. You don't lose the period that you have already paid for. When you change registrar, there's no direct effect to your email which is being handled by your current web host company. However, if you change your hosting company, there will be a little hiccup in between. That's why there's steps of transfering web hosting company so that you don't lose your emails during transfering web host.

what happens when my host goes banckrupt or i want to change host, how do i do that?
Host or Registrar? It's 2 different names. However, no matter who go bankruptcy, you still have your domain and the period you have already paid for. You still own it until your domain name expires. If that ever occurs, you then will need to move your domain to another registrar. That simple. Why you need registrar? Because you will need to change nameserver to point to your web site and so on :D


on whois of a page you get several adresses, what do they all mean?

Checken has told you about it. However, if you are the only one who hold liability of the domain name, your name shall be on all the "several address" For example:

Registrant: you
Address: your address

Administrator: you
Address: your address

Billing: you or whoever pay for the domain name. :D
Address: your address or whoever pay for the domain name.

Technical: can be either you or web hosting company
Address: yours or web hosting company

The most important is Registrant and Administrator area.
It tells the world that you legally own the domain and have the authority to access its administration area for any change.



i have a lot of questions like these, where can i find such information?
There're several ways such as search search search on searchengines, ask more questions here at this forum, or etc.

Hope this help. :D