Bought a domain... now what?

[deleted30]

Alright, here's my question of the week (or month?). What happens when I buy a domain at, say, http://www.active-domain.com/. How do I build the site after I buy the domain? Is it like Webs or Weebly which has a little editor and stuff?

 

[ErrorMagnet]

Alright, here's my question of the week (or month?). What happens when I buy a domain at, say, http://www.active-domain.com/. How do I build the site after I buy the domain? Is it like Webs or Weebly which has a little editor and stuff?

uhh well. First after you buy a domain, you need to buy web hosting.
I have used all of these that I am listing for you. (I do not own these, or own any part of these websites, I am not advertising for them, just giving you examples of good hosts, FOR CHEAP!!)

http://www.hostmonster.com/
http://www.justhost.com/
http://www.supergreenhosting.com

Basically for about $5 a month, you can get everything. If you pay more, you are getting way way way ripped off. On one of my websites hosted with super green, I have 490 user emails hosted, and about 18 Gigs of Data. Don't ever remember having an outage.

 

[deleted30]

Thanks ErrorMagnet. But, can't I host them on my own "computer"? Like a server?

 

[clifford_cooley]

Hi linux731

There is still allot I need to learn myself before I can advise on setting up servers and personal web-spaces.

I have just recently gone down this road though. First thing you would need is to find out if your ISP is blocking the port you need to link your Domain Name, this port is usually port 80. Next would be to decide if you want a static or dynamic IP address. Static IP is an address that never changes. Dynamic IP will change every-time a connection is made. Web servers with dynamic addresses can be made, however the router would need to be able to make the necessary changes to the IP address that the Domain Name is linked to every-time the IP changes. It would be easiest to contact your ISP and make sure you have a static IP and a router that will support a static IP.

Once you know you have an IP that you can link the Domain Name to, the next step would be to setup your server and forward port 80 from the router to the server machine.

 

[deleted30]

Hi linux731

There is still allot I need to learn myself before I can advise on setting up servers and personal web-spaces.

I have just recently gone down this road though. First thing you would need is to find out if your ISP is blocking the port you need to link your Domain Name, this port is usually port 80. Next would be to decide if you want a static or dynamic IP address. Static IP is an address that never changes. Dynamic IP will change every-time a connection is made. Web servers with dynamic addresses can be made, however the router would need to be able to make the necessary changes to the IP address that the Domain Name is linked to every-time the IP changes. It would be easiest to contact your ISP and make sure you have a static IP and a router that will support a static IP.

Once you know you have an IP that you can link the Domain Name to, the next step would be to setup your server and forward port 80 from the router to the server machine.

Thanks. A static IP is the internal IP or external? I'm confused at that part.

 

[clifford_cooley]

Thanks. A static IP is the internal IP or external? I'm confused at that part.

Both!!

You can setup an Internal Static IP for your machine which by the way is needed when you forward a port to the server machine. You don't want the internal IP changing on your machine every-time you reboot. The External IP can be either one as well. Everytime you power up the router, there is a request for an External IP from your ISP. Everytime you power up your computer there is a request for an Internal IP from the router. The only way to keep these IP's from changing periodically is to assign them static IP's.

You control which machine has an internal static IP and what that IP will be. Your ISP controls who has a external static IP and what that IP will be.

 

[deleted30]

Ahhh! I get it. Thanks. But my modem is always on, so unless I reboot it, it should stay the same IP (98.197.87.130)?

 

[TrainableMan]

Actually most ISPs still drop your signal at some point and reestablish. I remember my old ISP it was about every 72 hours.

For a static IP they want you to pay for it plus if you are hosting pictures, large files, etc, the bandwidth tends to add up and they will want to charge you for that. Just the cost of the static IP address is often much higher than if you just buy space on a web host.

 

[deleted30]

Yeah this whole domain idea is difficult to understand. I was just thinking of hosting a Flight Simulator server, and a website for the "Virtual airline". Do these hosts that Errormagnet said host my kind of program? (Games)

 

[TrainableMan]

Well you could host a game without a domain name, they simply need to know 98.197.87.130 (that is a perfectly valid address, it does not need to be words).

BTW, I looked and it seems those #s have not changed since your first post a week ago so with your cable connection it does not appear it is reset very often.

 

[deleted30]

Yeah, I don't think it resets at all. Comcast says the only offer static IPs to Comcast Business Class, but I won't pay extra for that. Also, the IP address is N/A to Flight Simulator because people just join your lobby from a list, not from direct IP access. Also, I use Wi-Fi not cable. And how did you get my last used IP?

 

[TrainableMan]

Also, the IP address is N/A to Flight Simulator because people just join your lobby from a list, not from direct IP access.

Somebody must create that list and the link has to point somewhere; it can point to #s as easily as words since both are valid html constructs.

Also, I use Wi-Fi not cable.

Comcast Wi-fI? So no cable runs in to your house and is attached to a cable modem?

And how did you get my last used IP?

Every post is tagged with the users IP address. Staff can see that tag.

 

[deleted30]

Somebody must create that list and the link has to point somewhere; it can point to #s as easily as words since both are valid html constructs.


Comcast Wi-fI? So no cable runs in to your house and is attached to a cable modem?



Every post is tagged with the users IP address. Staff can see that tag.

GameSpy you mean? And I mean Wi-Fi as in a router, but I see what you mean. Comcast High Speed Cable? I get it now. And, that's a cool feature! I guess it's good for people who disobey the rules and keep creating accounts.

 

[LeHaM]

my site is hosted with webs.com 30$ a year only 1gb bandwith though , you can host a site your self but need very good internets lol, nas units can be setup as a webserver too. just my input

 

[ErrorMagnet]

Thanks ErrorMagnet. But, can't I host them on my own "computer"? Like a server?

Mmm yeah see you didn't mention that. That's why I said what I said

 

[Ace]

Just like you can trace the route of a web url to an IP address and use the IP instead of the url to get on a website.

But other than that, buying a domain just registers you as it's owner, the hosting is a separate deal entirely. You can get a dedicated server if you're really that into it, but if you host it on your own, then you're going to have to run your computer 24/7 which is as much as I can tell you, and you probably don't want to end up having to deal with all of that.

 

[WindowsGeek]

I am decently experienced in website hosting. I own a domain, and I have it directed to my server (in my basement) that hosts my website along with some video game systems. My ISP, Comcast, does not get mad at me for hosting, and my IP has not changed in a year. Comcast cuts you off after 200GB of traffic per month, which is well under what I do, average 80GB/month with heavy gaming, hosting of game servers, streaming movies and hosting website. I use Apache web server software (it's free!) and CoffeeCup HTML Editor (I have the licensed version, but there is a great free version) for my web activities. I also use phpBB3 for forums.

Personally, I am against buying web hosting. I like hosting my own, because I cannot get cut off for using too many resources, I can physically control my resources, OS and everything. I can also control my uptime, keeping it as close as possible to 100%. I am not parking it on some cloud somewhere across the country and shelling out cash for it. You can host a site on basically any computer, I used to run mine on an old Pentium III 450 (and it ran perfectly) before getting my Aberdeen beast of a server.