Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - Domain Registration, Web Hosts, GoDaddy.com and More!

cyrnel · 03-18-2005, 12:55 AM

It's easy to get started buying domains and services from the same company but try to keep them separated. Hosting plans vary like snowflakes and you could easily find yourself switching. If you have domain and services from the same company it can be messy to separate later. Somewhat like having your email address stuck at AOL. (admittedly a severe example)

Domain registrations are nothing but an entry for your domain name in the master registry pointing to nameservers that know where your stuff lives. The nameservers associate the names of your services (web, mail, ftp, etc.) with the IP addresses of your site.

Example:
1) You register your domain "me.com" with BigRegistrarInc. They stick it in the big list of domains in the sky. Kind of a DMV. They'll want to know where to point it (nameservers), but you don't know yet.

2) You know you want web and mail hosting, and find a good deal with the things you need from BigHostCo. They provide systems with disk space for your site, mail, etc. They also (almost always) provide nameservers that associate the names (www,ftp,mail.me.com) with the actual computers hosting your services. They'll tell you the nameserver addresses and give you all the login info to manage your site.

3) Now you tell BigRegistrarInc the nameserver addresses for your site at BigHostCo and they link them to your domain in the root servers.

4) When someone types "me.com" into their browser, their browser asks their computer which asks their nameserver which inquires as far as the root servers which know to ask BigHostCo's nameserver which finally directs user to the box(es) housing your stuff.

Make sense? It's late...

Questions for domain registrar:
Annual cost (and multi-year discounts), do they provide shielded whois responses, what domain transfer security do they provide, how do you manage your contact & billing info, and can you control nameservers yourself, etc.

Questions for hosting co:
Evaluate their connection vs you vs your customers, Disk space limits, overcharges, monthly transfer allowance, overcharges, nameservers included, allow multi-domain to same site (me.com, me.org), extra charges, terms of service, read it read it read it, webmail, cgi, telnet, ad infinitum.

No provider is perfect and your selection can't help but be a best effort thing. Expect to come at it differently the 2nd time.

03-18-2005, 12:55 AM	#4 (permalink)
cyrnel Adequate Location: In my angry-dome.	It's easy to get started buying domains and services from the same company but try to keep them separated. Hosting plans vary like snowflakes and you could easily find yourself switching. If you have domain and services from the same company it can be messy to separate later. Somewhat like having your email address stuck at AOL. (admittedly a severe example) Domain registrations are nothing but an entry for your domain name in the master registry pointing to nameservers that know where your stuff lives. The nameservers associate the names of your services (web, mail, ftp, etc.) with the IP addresses of your site. Example: 1) You register your domain "me.com" with BigRegistrarInc. They stick it in the big list of domains in the sky. Kind of a DMV. They'll want to know where to point it (nameservers), but you don't know yet. 2) You know you want web and mail hosting, and find a good deal with the things you need from BigHostCo. They provide systems with disk space for your site, mail, etc. They also (almost always) provide nameservers that associate the names (www,ftp,mail.me.com) with the actual computers hosting your services. They'll tell you the nameserver addresses and give you all the login info to manage your site. 3) Now you tell BigRegistrarInc the nameserver addresses for your site at BigHostCo and they link them to your domain in the root servers. 4) When someone types "me.com" into their browser, their browser asks their computer which asks their nameserver which inquires as far as the root servers which know to ask BigHostCo's nameserver which finally directs user to the box(es) housing your stuff. Make sense? It's late... Questions for domain registrar: Annual cost (and multi-year discounts), do they provide shielded whois responses, what domain transfer security do they provide, how do you manage your contact & billing info, and can you control nameservers yourself, etc. Questions for hosting co: Evaluate their connection vs you vs your customers, Disk space limits, overcharges, monthly transfer allowance, overcharges, nameservers included, allow multi-domain to same site (me.com, me.org), extra charges, terms of service, read it read it read it, webmail, cgi, telnet, ad infinitum. No provider is perfect and your selection can't help but be a best effort thing. Expect to come at it differently the 2nd time.