# How to associate a domain name with my web server.



## caesius (Dec 7, 2010)

I'm new to this. I have set up apache so that I can type http://123.456.789.123/ and see my website (where 123.456.789.123 is replaced by my actual IP..).

I have also bought a domain name. How do I go about associating that URL with my machine? I'm assuming I'm gonna need to do something with DNS..

Thanks.


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## SirDice (Dec 7, 2010)

Contact the provider that hosts your domain. Adjust that to point to your web server.


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## caesius (Dec 7, 2010)

SirDice said:
			
		

> Contact the provider that hosts your domain. Adjust that to point to your web server.



By point do you mean redirect?


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## SirDice (Dec 7, 2010)

No, I mean point. A redirect is done with a web server. 

There are 3 things:

 domain registration
 domain hosting
 website hosting

Your domain registration only 'reserves' a domain name. In order to have your domain known on the internet a domain hosting will need to host the DNS zone. This could be done using your own DNS servers but for best results you'll need to have 2 different internet connections each having a DNS server there. The whois information of your domain registration will point to those DNS servers. Then you need to point the www record of that domain to your website.

Usually these 3 are done by the same hosting provider. They can however be split up and each can be handled by a different provider. But it will take some effort on your part to get everything lined up.

If you don't know how this works I suggest getting in touch with a provider that can do all this for you. It's really easy to screw up if you don't know what you're doing.


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## aragon (Dec 7, 2010)

It would be better to replace "amateur" with "novice" in the thread title.  Amateur really means "for the love of it", and in the case of free operating systems, many of us here are amateurs, even the developers.


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## DutchDaemon (Dec 7, 2010)

Not to mention 'amatuer'. Chopped it off altogether, since it doesn't add anything anyway


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## joag (Dec 7, 2010)

I think this will help you a lot:
http://www.nixheiser.org/hosting


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## caesius (Dec 8, 2010)

DutchDaemon said:
			
		

> Not to mention 'amatuer'. Chopped it off altogether, since it doesn't add anything anyway



Sorry, it stems from an overused expression in my country. Thanks for all help.


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