Purchasing your Webserver and Domain

Important: Please, please, please pay attention to your usernames and passwords for both your webhost and domain registry. They will likely be different, and it is your responsibility to understand they are distinct, and need to be available to you throughout the semester.

Domain Name Registration

Purchase your own domain name at Hover (or some other domain registry service, here’s a list of all accredited domain registrars).

The cost of domain names vary depending on your extension. For example, traditionally domains ending in .com or .org are more expensive than domains ending in .info or .us. We do not require you to use any one domain extension, and more and more any one official application of a domain extension is becoming outdated.

NOTE: If you purchase from Hover, domain privacy is included in the cost of the domain name. If you purchase from someone else and are concerned about your private information being linked to your domain name, be sure to include privacy options in your purchase.

Webhost

You can purchase your webhosting account from a variety of hosts online. Anyone from Bluehost to Site5 to Host Gator to InMotion, to name just a few. But, each of those hosts have you pay upfront for an entire year even if you only want it for the four months of this class (if you use one of these services be sure to ask if they will give you a pro-rated discount should you cancel after four or five months). If you want to pay on a month-by-month basis I would recommend using Cast Iron Coding (CIC). Even though Cast Iron Coding sells domains, we are requiring that you use a different domain registrar (such as Hover, mentioned above), so you can see how DNS and domain pointing works. Also, be sure you enter your domain and choose the self-management option when registering at CIC (see image below).

IMPORTANT NOTE: When you enter the domain name you registered at Hover, you may get a message that the domain name is already taken. That’s okay — as long as you choose “Self Management” in the Registration Options, you’ll be able to proceed.

The cost of an account with Cast Iron Coding is $10/month, and the first month will be pro-rated. You can get an account for cheaper at other hosts, but, again, you will likely be required to purchase at least a year of hosting up front.

If you do decide to proceed with a different host, please make sure you are getting a LAMP hosting environment with cPanel. (If you’re not sure feel free to send us a link to a service you’re looking at — so we can check it out for you.)

Setting up your Webserver and Domain

Pointing the domain to webhost: We have created a tutorial for pointing your domain to your web hosting space here. Please do this as soon as possible because it could take up to 24-48 hours for the domain to propagate on your web host. Also, note that if you are using a different webhost than Cast Iron Coding, your nameservers will be different.

Creating your blog: We have also created a tutorial for installing a blog on your web hosting account here.

Finally, email or tweet us—http://twitter.com/jimgroom or http://twitter.com/cogdog your questions or issues.

When you have finished setting up your domain, webhost, and blog, your first post on your brand spanking new blog should be a discussion of your process, try and explain what you think is happening technically, and be sure to tag your first week’s assignments “domo” (no quotes) so you get credit for completing it. FInally, once you have a blog address, be sure to add it to your user profile on ds106.us so we can syndicate your work into the course site.