Week 9 EOC: How to Set up a Domain Name

Before understanding how to configure a domain name, one should know how a domain name works. There are three parts to setting up a domain name for a website - (i) registering the domain name with a domain registrar, (ii) setting up the domain name entry in a DNS server, and finally (iii) configuring the web server to listen to the requests for the domain name. A request for the domain (e.g. http://websitegear.com) starts at one of the registrar's server, which then routes it to a DNS server containing the DNS information for the domain. Once the DNS record for the domain resolves the domain name to a particular IP address, the request is sent to the web server listening to that IP address. The web server can now delegate the request to the particular website based on the domain name in the host header of the request object.

Registering A Domain Name

A domain name needs to be registered with one of the ICANN (http://www.icann.org) approved domain registrars for a yearly registration fee. One of the cheapest registrar with all the required features is GoDaddy.com (http://www.godaddy.com). There are registrars for each country specific domain names (such as .co.uk for United Kingdom, .nl for Netherlands). One should choose a domain name very carefully. After deciding on an available domain name, one has to provide the following information during the registration process:

• ·         Domain name owner credentials (name, company name, address, phone, email address etc.)
• ·         Administrative contact credentials
• ·         Technical contact credentials
• ·         Domain Name System (DNS) server details

Conclusion

Domain configuration starts with an entry with a domain registrar, and the registrar record maps the domain to name servers, which contains the detailed DNS entries for the domain. The lookup for the domain name at the designated DNS server resolves the domain to an IP address of the web server. The web server in turn delegates the requests based on its configuration for the domain.

http://content.websitegear.com/article/domain_setup.htm