Registrar Recommendations

[TheSpeedoBeast]

I am considering buying a domain name, but I am not sure what registrar you guys recommend. I have heard mixed reviews on godaddy.com, and networksolutions is pretty overpriced. I do not want hosting with the package. What would you suggest for a registrar for personal use? Thanks for your help in advance!

[madcompnerd]

I have nothing useful to say, but I'll bump ya a bit by saying this:
Godaddy has annoying/stupid ads so I don't like them...

[Syngin]

RegisterFly

I've had my domains through them for the past few years with no problems. Good prices too.

[ph34r]

I use dyndns.org mostly because I used their free service for years with no issues. $15/yr for domains, $30 for primary dns service.

[bsm2001]

I use www.aplus.net and have had no problems at all.

[TheSpeedoBeast]

Do all of these domain names work alright if you don't have a static IP address? I know dyndns can deal with that, but I do not know about the rest. I just do not yet understand the process of associating your domain name with an ip address... any ideas?

[jrbush82]

I use aplus.net as well, anytime I need the PTR records changed to my new IP I have to call them.. They do have a nice control panel, but it doesn't have the option to update the IP address for now.

[TheSpeedoBeast]

Ok, I will at least check out aplus then. So is the only thing you have to do to get a domain name to register the name to your ip address, and then that domain name will redirect to your ip address? If so, what is bind and all that for?

[bwkaz]

BIND is if you want to serve the actual DNS records yourself.

Let's say you want to register blah.com, for example. (It may already be registered, I have no idea.) First, you'll need to have some way of getting Verisign to create an NS record for "blah" in the "com" domain (which they control, so they just update their DNS server's config file(s)). This is one of the things your registrar does. But in order for Verisign to be able to create that record, they'll need to have the IP address of at least 2 DNS servers which will serve that domain. Depending on the registration terms, your registrar may use their own servers, or they may use IP addresses that you give them. These DNS servers will serve up one or more A records for that name, and also sub-names (like "www"). They can even delegate an entire sub-domain to another (at least) pair of DNS servers if needed, by creating an NS record inside blah.com that points at those servers.

If your registrar tells Verisign to puts your registrar's servers' IP addresses into the DNS database, then you don't have to run BIND. If your registrar puts your server's IP address in the database, then you do have to run BIND.

Also, if you have a dynamic IP address, you can (and arguably should) delegate to dyndns's name servers, or some other similar service. Your registrar's database may not update fast enough when your real IP address changes; dyndns's records expire fairly quickly, so it usually does. Maybe it's not worth the trouble though, I'm not sure -- it depends on the hoops that your registrar makes you jump through to get your records changed. (dyndns has some clients that you can run and have update their database automatically when your machine's IP changes.)

One last thing. Your ISP is the one that controls your PTR records (the reverse lookup stuff). If you don't have an agreement with them to have a static IP address, then they probably won't update the PTR records for you, you're probably stuck with whatever they put in there. Not always, though, so it may not hurt to ask.

[TheSpeedoBeast]

Mmm, I think I got some indigestion from that post; a lot to take in. What would be the recommended path for someone who wants to host a site on their own computer, but doesn't have a fully static IP address?

[bwkaz]

Don't bother with BIND at all.

If your registrar allows it (if they don't force you to use their servers), use the dyndns servers as your authority record. This is dyndns's "custom DNS" service, and it does cost something. (It used to be a one-time fee, but I don't know if that's how it works anymore.) dyndns's servers update quickly, so when your IP changes, their servers will probably be one of the better places to host the actual record. (I don't know of any other organization offering something like this, but I would think it would exist somewhere else.)

If you want to keep everything under one organization, dyndns also offers domain registration. It costs something too, but I don't know how the pricing works or anything. In their "domain registration" service, purchasing the name is separate from purchasing the DNS -- the DNS is them actually holding the records (which you probably want, this is the paragraph above), while the "domain name" is what tells name lookup clients to go to dyndns's servers for that name.

If you don't mind putting your name under one of dyndns's owned domains, then you can use dyndns's free service. Other services just like this exist -- no-ip.net comes to mind. Choosing between them is mostly arbitrary, though it does depend on what names they have available and which one you want.

[TheSpeedoBeast]

Yeah, my website is based off of no-ip, so I was trying to get away from that : -) So basically, as long as you can find a static dns host, and you can update that namefile held under that host whenever you want (as your ip changes), you are in business?

[bwkaz]

And as long as the time-to-live value in that DNS provider's database isn't too high. Otherwise, other DNS servers will cache the old value for too long, and won't be able to resolve your name to your real (changed) IP address.

[TheSpeedoBeast]

Hm. You have to update to business class when using roadrunner's service, so I may just have to use dyndns/no-ip for dns serving. Hm...