Hey gang,
I just leased a dedicated server from Rackshack. You have to do three things to start a web site. 1. create the virtual web site in ensim. 2. point the domain to the rackshack domain name severs. 3. add your domain name to the Rackshack domain name servers.
But, yesterday and today when I try to go to rackshack.net, it can't be found. Anybody know what's going on?
Bradley

Its up for me...where are you located?

I can't acess the http://rackshack.net site from Australia at the moment. Maybe they're upgrading upstream etc. I'm sure it'll be live_and_kicking shortly. :)

It's www.rackshack.net, not rackshack.net.

Originally posted by ToastyX
It's www.rackshack.net, not rackshack.net.
Oh :o I don't even use the "www" these days. So you can only access them via the www.Rackshack.net then?? :eek:

Depends on how you set your server up. You can point http://domain.com to a different location to http://www.domain.com if you really want to.

bradley,

After all of those questions you went with Rackshack? Are you trying to set up the server admin stuff yourself?

Originally posted by ToastyX
It's www.rackshack.net, not rackshack.net.

I would imagine they're intelligent to point www and rackshack.net to the same stuff, it would be very unwise to do otherwise for such a large company.

I read that RackShack block a Far East IP range that covers some Australian ISPs.

I can't acess the http://rackshack.net site from Australia at the moment. Maybe they're upgrading upstream etc. I'm sure it'll be live_and_kicking shortly.

Same in the uk but i get no route to host and www.rackshack.net works ok

Can't get to: http://rackshack.net
Can get to: http://www.rackshack.net

Someting to post on their forums or shoot a quick note about to support.

Originally posted by voxtreme-matt
I read that RackShack block a Far East IP range that covers some Australian ISPs.

Yes, but we are only blocked from the signup form, not the site itself.

Originally posted by porcupine


I would imagine they're intelligent to point www and rackshack.net to the same stuff, it would be very unwise to do otherwise for such a large company.

Don't see why as the vast majority of people using the web automatically type www. in first.

In fact I know a lot of big sites that don't setup their site to work without the www.

Gang,
Thanks for the replies to the original post. It is true that the problem was I was putting in rackshack.net instead of www.rackshack.net.
Although, when I finally realized this was the problem the member area was down for a day to be updated. But, it was all soon back up and working.
Which brings me to the question of when I put up web sites on my dedicated server, how do I make them so that www.website.com and website.com both work?
And, as to why I went with Rackshack after all the questions I have been asking here - it is because I decided it would be cheaper and easier to learn the ropes with Rackshack, because of their price and their 24 hour phone, chat, and forums.
I figure I can always upgrade to a better, faster, server in the future when I know what I am doing.
Thanks,
Bradley

In fact I know a lot of big sites that don't setup their site to work without the www.

like http://adobe.com

Originally posted by yabber


like http://adobe.com

Well then they're pretty foolish if you ask me. It may not be convention to reply to both www.domain and domain by default, but lets face it, you dont do that, you kiss customers goodbye daily.

There was a thread about the no 'www' thing (I may even have been the one who started it???) and yes, it seems odd to me. Another example: What used to be Digital Nation (now Verio of course) http://dn.com (nope), http://www.dn.com (used to go to their DN site, now redirects to Verio).

Which brings me to the question of when I put up web sites on my dedicated server, how do I make them so that www.website.com and website.com both work?

There are 2 things you must do...

First, the 2 dns must be configured to send both www.website.com and website.com to the same ip. The simplest way to do that is just to add an A record in your zone file. Then you restart bind to apply the changes. The 2nd DNS should update itself, eventually.

Then you go in your apache config. If the site is your main one, you can add
ServerAlias website.com
under the ServerName directive (it could go almost anywhere in the main config file, but it's better to keep it near the servername). If you're talking about a virtual host, you have to go to that host's section and add the same line.

That's assuming that ServerName is the one with the www. If not, you have to add the www part to the serveralias directive.

That's all there is to it I guess, unless I've drawn a blank...