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How to get a domain for a home server?

Litargirio
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So I managed to install the thing, and have a process calling itself GoDaddyDNSUpdate running now; the reason it wasn't letting me do so before is because I was generating the key in the test section instead of the production section of the key generator.

 

rbrlAW5.png

 

I've tried changing the IP by restarting the router, and the IP that is listed as being linked to the domain gets updated when my IP changes, so things work now. Thanks for the helps!

I tried Googling this but all I get is advertisements for web hosting and other crap.

 

Basically I want to have a domain www.example.com, so that if you put www.example.com in your browser it directs you to the apache server thingy I have set up on my PC. I already have done this with my IP (if you were to type in my IP on your browser it would direct you to it), but I want to have it set up so you can type in www.example.com in the browser instead. So... how do you do that?

 

Also, what is the criteria when it comes to choosing between the last bit? As in .com .net .org .io .co.uk etcetera.

 

By the way, I live in the UK, and my ISP is British Telecom (aka BT).

 

Cheers!  :D

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I tried Googling this but all I get is advertisements for web hosting and other crap.

 

Basically I want to have a domain www.example.com, so that if you put www.example.com in your browser it directs you to the apache server thingy I have set up on my PC. I already have done this with my IP (if you were to type in my IP on your browser it would direct you to it), but I want to have it set up so you can type in www.example.com in the browser instead. So... how do you do that?

 

Also, what is the criteria when it comes to choosing between the last bit? As in .com .net .org .io .co.uk etcetera.

 

By the way, I live in the UK, and my ISP is British Telecom (aka BT).

 

Cheers!  :D

Okay, this needs a bit of extra information.

 

First, do you want this Website you're hosting to be accessible from outside your home, or just while you're on your computer at home?

 

If you want to have it accessible from the outside internet (Eg: while at school or a friends), then you need to buy a domain:

You need to buy the domain from a registered domain reseller, such as GoDaddy (Or whatever, your ISP might even sell them):

https://ca.godaddy.com/domains/domain-name-search.aspx

 

Then you need to have a static IP Address for your home internet connection, or use a Dynamic DNS Service (Dynamic DNS will take a dynamic IP - one that changes occasionally - and will keep an updated record every time it changes).

 

You would then configure the Domain to "point" to that IP Address. Dynamic DNS services can also sometimes configure the domain for you, but this is not free.

 

If you want to only access the site from your home network, you either need to setup a custom DNS server (DNS is what converts domains into IP Addresses), or you need to edit your HOSTS file on your computer.

Either way, you would configure a record that would say something like this:

192.168.1.5 www.bobstitties.com

 

The IP address 192.168.1.5 is the hypothetical LAN (internal) IP of your apache web server, and the URL is just whatever domain you want to call it.

 

Keep in mind that this method will override any actual real-world websites that might use the domain you choose.

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Also, what is the criteria when it comes to choosing between the last bit? As in .com .net .org .io .co.uk etcetera.

Technically a bunch of things. in practice, nothing but an 3 different characters. it is just a top level domain (i.e. it is a domain just the same as www.google is. just a few levels up the DNS hierarchy).

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First, do you want this Website you're hosting to be accessible from outside your home, or just while you're on your computer at home?

 

From outside, of course. Otherwise I wouldn't go trough all the trouble and I'd just use the IP adress  :D

 

If you want to have it accessible from the outside internet (Eg: while at school or a friends), then you need to buy a domain:

You need to buy the domain from a registered domain reseller, such as GoDaddy (Or whatever, your ISP might even sell them):

https://ca.godaddy.com/domains/domain-name-search.aspx

 

What exactly does buying a domain do for me? How come I can't just... use a domain if it isn't in use?

 

Keep in mind that this method will override any actual real-world websites that might use the domain you choose.

 

You mean that I should be careful not to use a domain that someone else is already using?

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actual real-world websites

 

Wouldn't mine become an actual real world website?

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What exactly does buying a domain do for me? How come I can't just... use a domain if it isn't in use?

 

 

You mean that I should be careful not to use a domain that someone else is already using?

 

Domain Names are purchased from domain registrars (Godaddy, NameCheap, etc..). They have access to make changes to a database that allows them to register domain names. They pay ICANN and IANA royalites every year for this access and it's not something an individual can feasibly do.

 

Anyway this database is what DNS servers pull information from to stay current on on their DNS records. This is why you can't just use a domain if it's available, because you have no way to control what information DNS servers store. This is also the reason that it's impossible for you to use a domain that someone else is using, because that name is already accounted for in the special database.

 

What you need to do is very simple.

 

Step 1. Purchase a domain name through a domain registrar

Step 2. Through your domain registrar enter the IP address you want the DNS to translate to. You want to use your public IP address from your ISP. http://www.whatsmyip.org/ will give you this information. Your domain registrar will have customer service that can help walk you through this.

Step 3. In your router forward port 80 and whatever other ports you access your server on to your servers local IP address

Step 4. That's it, tell people what the website name is and they can type it into their address bar and go to it.

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What exactly does buying a domain do for me? How come I can't just... use a domain if it isn't in use?

 

Even if domains were free and you could just use any you would like, there would still be a problem.

The "web address" doesn't help a computer much when trying to connect to a server, it needs an IP address to be able to send packets to the remote computer. In order to get that, it uses a service known as DNS, which is basically a registry of domains and their corresponding domains. If you don't have a DNS entry, your domain is useless. 

 

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Domain Names are purchased from domain registrars (Godaddy, NameCheap, etc..). They have access to make changes to a database that allows them to register domain names. They pay ICANN and IANA royalites every year for this access and it's not something an individual can feasibly do.

 

Anyway this database is what DNS servers pull information from to stay current on on their DNS records. This is why you can't just use a domain if it's available, because you have no way to control what information DNS servers store. This is also the reason that it's impossible for you to use a domain that someone else is using, because that name is already accounted for in the special database.

 

What you need to do is very simple.

 

Step 1. Purchase a domain name through a domain registrar

Step 2. Through your domain registrar enter the IP address you want the DNS to translate to. You want to use your public IP address from your ISP. http://www.whatsmyip.org/ will give you this information. Your domain registrar will have customer service that can help walk you through this.

Step 3. In your router forward port 80 and whatever other ports you access your server on to your servers local IP address

Step 4. That's it, tell people what the website name is and they can type it into their address bar and go to it.

This is an excellent summary.

 

 

From outside, of course. Otherwise I wouldn't go trough all the trouble and I'd just use the IP adress  :D

 

 

What exactly does buying a domain do for me? How come I can't just... use a domain if it isn't in use?

 

 

You mean that I should be careful not to use a domain that someone else is already using?

As above, buying a domain secures it, and makes it accessible from the general internet. You can't just "make up your own" for free, because then it just simply wouldn't work outside of your home.

 

As for your last quote, if you're accessing from outside, you need to buy a domain, which means you can ignore that comment all together.

 

As for choosing .com, .ca, .co.uk, etc, That's entirely up to personal preference. Some of them are cheaper than others. .com tend to be the most expensive, and stuff like .org or .net tend to be the cheapest.

 

Basically, when you're on a domain registrar website (Like godaddy) and you search for a domain, it will show you which are available (say www.asshat.com is taken, but www.asshat.co.uk might be free), and it will also give you pricing for each one. You can even purchase multiple domains with different post-fixes at the end (say you want to buy .com, .org, and .co.uk, you can do that). That way you can type any of those variations into your browser and still access the same site. In practice, for a home user though, it's probably pointless and a waste of money. Useful for a business though.

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Actually you can create any domain (even one that is taken) and use it internally.

 

If you'd try to access it from anywhere other than your LAN, you'd be taken to the real/legit/publicly-registered domain.

 

If you create a domain internally that isnt already registered, You wouldnt be able to resolve it publicly. 

Can Anybody Link A Virtual Machine while I go download some RAM?

 

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Actually you can create any domain (even one that is taken) and use it internally.

 

If you'd try to access it from anywhere other than your LAN, you'd be taken to the real/legit/publicly-registered domain.

 

If you create a domain internally that isnt already registered, You wouldnt be able to resolve it publicly. 

This was already covered, yes. But he specifically mentioned he wanted to use it over the Internet.

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If you got creative, and didnt mind remembering your ip address, you could setup and connect to your vpn and push all your traffic back onto your home LAN where you have an internal DNS setup for all the services you wanted to use.

 

All for free.

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-snip-

-snip-

 

Thanks for the explanation, that pretty much cleared it up. I'll go acquire a domain in a bit.  :lol:

 

So if I want to keep my IP dynamic (my ISP won't allow me to have a static one), I need to use a dynamic DNS service... there seem to be quite a few free options out there. Any recommendations? Not sure which one to pick.

 

Also, GoDaddy is asking me whether I want to make my info public upon purchasing the domain, or if I want to keep it private, which is more expensive. Should I choose the first one, since only I and a few other people will be using it?

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Thanks for the explanation, that pretty much cleared it up. I'll go acquire a domain in a bit.  :lol:

 

So if I want to keep my IP dynamic (my ISP won't allow me to have a static one), I need to use a dynamic DNS service... there seem to be quite a few free options out there. Any recommendations? Not sure which one to pick.

 

Also, GoDaddy is asking me whether I want to make my info public upon purchasing the domain, or if I want to keep it private, which is more expensive. Should I choose the first one, since only I and a few other people will be using it?

Keeping your info private just limits what information people see when they perform a WHOIS search on a domain. I'd say it's not really a huge deal, unless you're particularly concerned about extra privacy, and/or you're mega paranoid ;)

 

I've used no-ip.org before, but yeah, I have no idea which ones are actually good or not.

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Keeping your info private just limits what information people see when they perform a WHOIS search on a domain. I'd say it's not really a huge deal, unless you're particularly concerned about extra privacy, and/or you're mega paranoid ;)

 

I've used no-ip.org before, but yeah, I have no idea which ones are actually good or not.

 

Apparently GoDaddy does have a DDNS service, but only for the Windows Server OS  -_-

 

https://www.godaddy.com/help/install-the-updated-sbs-godaddy-dns-service-16285

 

I wonder if I could get this thing to work on Windows 8.1

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In regards to the DDns service. I would bet the godaddy DDns works on any current version of Windows its typically just a simple application that touches base with a godaddy server periodically, that said I have no personal experience with it and don't know for certain. Also certain router manufacturers will give you a free DDns service (Asus is one that does for certain models). Look through your router settings and see if you have anything in there.

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Apparently GoDaddy does have a DDNS service, but only for the Windows Server OS  -_-

 

https://www.godaddy.com/help/install-the-updated-sbs-godaddy-dns-service-16285

 

I wonder if I could get this thing to work on Windows 8.1

It installs as a service. It might very well work on Windows 8.1. If you end up using GoDaddy as your Domain Registrar, then it's certainly worth attempting to install.

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Also certain router manufacturers will give you a free DDns service (Asus is one that does for certain models). Look through your router settings and see if you have anything in there.

 

Yes, it's there, but it doesn't support GoDaddy :/

 

WguAGcMh.jpg 

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It installs as a service. It might very well work on Windows 8.1. If you end up using GoDaddy as your Domain Registrar, then it's certainly worth attempting to install.

 

It seems to be installing, but it prompts me to tell it my domain and details, which I don't have yet.

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It seems to be installing, but it prompts me to tell it my domain and details, which I don't have yet.

Looks like it'll work then. Post an update once you get the domain and try it out :)

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Looks like it'll work then. Post an update once you get the domain and try it out :)

 

"Key and Secret does not have access to this domain". No idea what that means.

 

Edit: I'll go ask GoDaddy support  :P. Tomorrow. First I need to get some sleep...

 

HqkheX8.png

Edited by Litargirio

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  • 2 weeks later...

So I managed to install the thing, and have a process calling itself GoDaddyDNSUpdate running now; the reason it wasn't letting me do so before is because I was generating the key in the test section instead of the production section of the key generator.

 

rbrlAW5.png

 

I've tried changing the IP by restarting the router, and the IP that is listed as being linked to the domain gets updated when my IP changes, so things work now. Thanks for the helps!

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  • 2 weeks later...

How did you successfully install this service? I've tried multiple times. I've used 3 different 'Production' key/secret combos. I've tried my godaddy SBS domain in all lowercase and all uppercase. However, each time I enter the info into the .exe config dialog box it displays, 'Key and Secret does not have access to this domain' and the install fails. Is there a config step on the Godaddy Dev API site that I'm missing? How does the API Key and Secret know anything about my domain? It appears to be just a randomly created Key and Secret that's not tied to any other information. Ugh!!

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How does the API Key and Secret know anything about my domain?

 

Basically once you install it, if you go to DNS zone file and point the domain to your IP, the program will detect that you pointed the domain to your IP and will interpret this as a goahead to update the registered IP every time your IP changes.

 

However, I already had the domain pointing to my IP when I installed it, so it is possible that you have to set it up to point it to your IP first, prior to installing it. Since linking the main url (www.example.com) takes a few hours to update, link a subdomain to your IP first (whatever.example.com), which only takes a few seconds. Once you have done this, try the installation again.

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LOL! I didn't even think about DNS propgating. I changed my server's IP in the zone file and immediately tried to install the service. This morning I installed the service again and it worked perfectly. DOH!

 

Thanks!

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