The first thing
you will need to do is decide on the Domain Name that you want to
register, at the moment .com, .net, .org are
the main extensions available but there is .com.au for business's
to register (of course there are alot more, but most wont be useful
here). To check the availability of the domain you want you can
do a search at Network
Solutions (or many other vendors), all you need to do is type
the domain you want, e.g. mayhemsdomain and then select .com
as the extension, once you have done this it will display if your
selection is available and will also suggest some other similar
Domain Names you might want to register.
When you have
made your choice it is time to register the domain, we recommend
using BoxxNet Pty Ltd who
go through www.dnhd.net , this
is mainly because the registrations is cheap at $30.25(AUS) / year
and also our kind friend Dean Wilson from AusForum.com
will get a 50 cents commission to help for his hosting and expenses
also they provide a nice functional service with great support and
response time. For more information you can visit the BoxxNet Domain
page, http://www.boxxnet.com.au/domain.html,
or to go directly to registration here.
The registration takes about 10 minutes at most and will walk you
through about 6 steps, you will need to choose your domain, give
your contact details, select payment options and the likes. To
register your domain name you will need a valid credit card.
DNHD.NET Steps:
- Do a search
to make sure your domain is available.
- If your
domain is available make sure its selected on the list and click
"Reserve Domain".
- If your
a new client you will need to create an account, otherwise enter
your details and check existing client, then click "Reserve
Domain".
- Type in
all your contact information, this information will be visible
to anyone who does a WHO-IS lookup on your Domain.
- Enter your
payment Information, this is where you can select 1yr, 2yrs, 5yrs
10yrs of registration and make a nice saving.
- Confirm
registration and make note of your receipt details, the value
will be debited from your credit card.
When you have
setup your domain it will take about 48 hours to be register and
propagate through the DNS servers around the world. It is recommended
that you setup your domain immediately so that you don't have to
wait any longer for the entire process to be complete.
When hosting
your own domain you will need to have a primary and secondary DNS
server setup with the information regarding the Domain and the setting
etc, since you can really only host one on your own machine (if
you wish) we recommend the use of a FREE DNS servers such as the
one provided by www.mydomain.com
as it saves your the hassle and gives your great flexibility if
your new to this.
With mydomain.com
you will want to setup a plus account, which you can do here.
This allows your to redirect e-mail's, change sub-dmain's, etc.
To sign-up just enter your e-mail address and follow the instructions,
once done you will be able to view your Domain List, in here is
where you can make all the necessary changes. On top of the ability
to be rather flexible and free, mydomain.com
will also let you setup many different Domain Names through there
service.
In the list
you want to select your domain e.g.. mayhemsdomain.com, it will
then bring up a list of the options and settings for this domain,
the first thing you want to do is modify the "Web Settings",
this can be a number of options:
- Under
Construction - Displays a nice simple pages letting your visitors
know your site is being built (Default)
- Standard
Directing - When a visitor types your domain they will be
redirected to your IP address.
- Stealth
Forwarding
- This will create a frame page and your site will be opened with
this, similar to Namezero
and cjb.net setups.
- IP Forwarding
- Recommended for most people, this will be like a normal setup,
your domain will be connected directly to your IP.
- CNAME
- Duplicates the setting of another Domain Name.
IP Forwarding
is probably what you will most likely use, this is the most professional
of the options, but Stealth Forwarding can be very useful when you
want to run your webserver on a separate port number (also can be
done on your machine instead, see apache section below) or to point
to a ISP hosting account like the one you are provided by your ISP
e.g. http://members.optushome.com.au/mayhemsdomain/. To setup IP
forwarding all you need to do is type your IP address (e.g. 203.164.xxx.xxx)
into the field and click "Continue", after all changes
you will be asked to "CONFIRM CHANGES".

The "Email
Settings" is basically for those who don't want to host there
own mail server but you like your email@mayhemsdomain.com to be
redirected to an existing account. This is rather simple all you
need to do is type the prefex of the e-mail account you want to
setup (i.e. name@mayhemsdomain.com will require name to be entered)
and then entering the e-mail address you wish it to be forwarded.
Along with this you can setup a default e-mail address where all
the e-mail's will be redirected. If you wish to host your own mail
server then you will need to setup "Advanced: use own mail
server" where you will need put the IP address of your machine
as the MX host and then the appropriate distance value - should
be 0 (NOTE: This will also require you to setup some additional
information at your machines end, this is not covered here).
Sub-Domains
are just like the main account, once you have added them you can
configure them as shown in the "Web Settings" section
above. You should setup the following sub-domains as IP forwarding
www and ftp, that is what most professional setups
are like.
Now that you
have the DNS setup done you should log back into your Domain account
with www.dnhd.net and you will
need to go to the "Name Servers" section and enter the
details for mydomain.com. The following are the servers you will
need to put in the list:
ns1.mydomain.com
ns2.mydomain.com
ns3.mydomain.com
ns4.mydomain.com
When your done
it should look something like this:

Its
now time to setup your Apache Server, this is where you will need
to make a decision, do you want to run a single site or many different
sites, this can all be done with the single Apache setup using Virtual
Hosts. Personally I wanted to have two main sites, one that was
accessible directly via my IP address that was for personal use
and password protected, the other that would be accessible from
the domain name and thus by most people.
Open
up your httpd.conf
in your favourite editor and your will need to make the following
changes.
Un-hash the line BinAddress
*, it should look something like this now:
#
# BindAddress: You can support virtual hosts with this option. This
directive
# is used to tell the server which IP address to listen to. It can
either
# contain "*", an IP address, or a fully qualified Internet domain
name.
# See also the and Listen directives.
#
BindAddress *
Make
sure the ServerName
is setup for your IP address:
#
# ServerName allows you to set a host name which is sent back to
clients for
# your server if it's different than the one the program would get
(i.e., use
# "www" instead of the host's real name).
#
# Note: You cannot just invent host names and hope they work. The
name you
# define here must be a valid DNS name for your host. If you don't
understand
# this, ask your network administrator.
# If your host doesn't have a registered DNS name, enter its IP
address here.
# You will have to access it by its address (e.g., http://123.45.67.89/)
# anyway, and this will make redirections work in a sensible way.
#
# 127.0.0.1 is the TCP/IP local loop-back address, often named localhost.
Your
# machine always knows itself by this address. If you use Apache
strictly for
# local testing and development, you may use 127.0.0.1 as the server
name.
#
ServerName 203.164.xxx.xxx
Finally
scroll down to Section 3:
Virtual Hosts and make changes similar to the following:
#
# Use name-based virtual hosting.
#
NameVirtualHost www.mayhemsdomain.com
#
# VirtualHost example:
# Almost any Apache directive may go into a VirtualHost container.
# The first VirtualHost section is used for requests without a known
# server name.
#
<VirtualHost 203.164.xxx.xxx>
ServerAdmin admin@mayhemsdomain.com
DocumentRoot /home/httpd/html/
ServerName 203.164.xxx.xxx
ErrorLog /etc/httpd/logs/203.164.xxx.xxx-error_log
TransferLog /etc/httpd/logs/203.164.xxx.xxx-access_log
</VirtualHost>
<VirtualHost 203.164.xxx.xxx>
ServerAdmin admin@mayhemsdomain.com
DocumentRoot /home/httpd/html/phpnuke/
ServerName www.mayhemsdomain.com
ErrorLog /etc/httpd/logs/mayhemsdomain-error_log
TransferLog /etc/httpd/logs/mayhemsdomain-access_log
</VirtualHost>
Now all that
is left to do is reset apache by running: apachectl
retstart.
All that is
left to do is wait for your Domain Name and DNS information to be
propagated around the world and then your in business. To check
up your domain you can verify the registration and name server information
by doing a Who-IS lookup: whois.opensrs.net,
but to verify that your domain is correctly pointing to your IP
address you will need to do the following: ping
mayhemsdomain.com. When everything has setup your on your
way, now you just need to get cracking on that snazzy web site.
|