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After domain name registration...?

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  • After domain name registration...?

    Ok, I am really new to web development. I have some really good ideas as to what it is I want to do with my web page, and I am ready to buy a .com domain name... My question is... after I buy the domain for one year, or 2 years or 10 years, what happens next? Do they give me space to build with? Are they going to give me the addresses that I would need to access this space (if it exists)?

    Thanks a lot
    Scott

  • #2
    no you need to buy web hosting too. A domain is just the .com name. Many times a hosting package is included with a domain name but im not sure if thats the case for u

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    • #3
      Edit: KoolDrew is indeed correct. But for a more in-depth explanation:
      That all depends on where you get it...

      If you simply go through an online registrar and purchase a domain name ($20 or so, if I remember), all you get is a domain name and a method of inputting what IP address it points to. Most services, however, will allow for some kind of hosting option. It will cost more money and that amount will depend on how much space and bandwidth you want. If you go with a hosting option, they will have some FTP or HTTP method for you to transfer your files to the web server.

      The alternative to paying for hosting and a domain (as I said) is to just buy a domain. In that case, you would put your site on a computer you own for web hosting. You point the domain at that machine's IP and set up a web server. For that purpose, you can use a number of different (free) server programs. Apache is the most popular and is considered to be the best. Another go one is Abyss Web Server. You could also use ISS, which is built into Windows XP Professional (I can't remember if it's in Home, but I doubt it). This option is problematic since you are probably on Cable or DSL. Without a faster service such as T1, you will get very little upload bandwidth and a popular site (or one with lots of fancy coding, images, flash stuff, etc.) will be unable to upload the web pages to users in a timly manner. Plus, hosting is fairly cheap wheras an acceptably fast machine will cost a couple hundred or so dollars U.S. (depending on the popularity of the site). That said, if the site won't recieve very many users, then it's not a bad idea. You could even host it on whatever you're using now (assuming you don't have dial-up) if you left the machine on all the time.

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      • #4
        Suggestions?

        Thank you so much for taking the time to give such a detailed reply... Maybe I could just post the address for where the site is sitting right now and explain my situation as-is and see what suggestions come up...

        http://www.uweb.ucsb.edu/~scott_carner

        The site would be in its "off-season" right now. If it is going to work out, then it will really pick up come August, and that traffic should hold out through May, and there should still be a stead bit of traffic through the couple of down-months in the summer.

        If things went as planned, then the site would have hits in the (multiple) thousands per month. I have space that is given to me by my school. I am provided 20 MB of space, and the connection is going to be T1. For 9 months of the year, my personal computer is connected to T1 as well.

        Getting back to the traffic topic: I threw the site up on one page frequently visited by people from my school 5 days ago (and this is during the summer mind you) and I have already had 595 page loads and 122 unique visitors. I thought that was promising for something that isn't quite finished that was just mentioned by-the-way.

        Suggestions? On the site or my situation?

        Thanks so much
        Scott

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        • #5
          Just buy a domain and point it to the IP of the computer it's on if you can just continue to use the schools T1 (is your school okay with that?). If it's getting hundreds of hits a day you will probably pay quite a bit for the hosting.

          When you set up the server you'll want to do a few things. Firstly, you'll need to get yourself a good software firewall such as Zone Alarm (which is free). Then you're going to want to do a few tweaks to get the machine ready for handling all of those requests for the site. For starters, read the guide on services at www.blackviper.com. You should also take a look at the Windows XP tweaking guide over at www.tweakguides.com. Beyond that, you may want to go into Control Panel\System\Advanced\Performance\Advanced and change memory usage from programs and system cache. You also might want to increase your max paging file size while you're in there, depending on it's current size and your RAM. That's probably unnecessary with your current numbers, but you'll need to when it starts getting a lot of hits. You should also avoid using this computer. Maybe use it for web browsing, e-mail, etc. Don't try to play games or anything like that.
          That's assuming you don't just use your 20MB of space. Doing that would be easiest for you, but that could become problematic if the server is slow (or being used for a lot of other stuff) or if your school doesn't want so many people accessing its server.

          When you lose connection to the T1, you'll want to look into some paid hosting. When that happens look at your site statistics and see how much bandwidth you're going to need. Add quite a bit more to those numbers when purchasing hosting just ot be safe.

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          • #6
            Apache is probally the best choice. Thats what I use. And assuming you dont need any php or mysql is pretty easy to set up. Heres a guide to set up the webserver. It has inbtructions on setting up apache, php and mysql. It also expalins what php and mysql are if you dotn already know

            http://www.wowwebdesigns.com/power_g...trio_intro.php

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            • #7
              Thanks a lot for the replies, I will look into that new webpage for web development (apache..?). I think what I am getting from both of you is that I should just use my computer for a server as long as I am on a T1, correct? How would I obtain a static IP to point my domain name to?

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              • #8
                You'll have to talk to your school about that. :(

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                • #9
                  that's alright. thanks anyways for all of your help.

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                  • #10
                    Re: After domain name registration...?

                    I register my domain name here http://www.tucktail.com/ It provides hosting,domain name register, domain appraisal, online file folder, ssl certificate etc...

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