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Set Up Your Hosting


Modify the DNS records for your domain name and point it at your new hosting account

You might have to wait a little while before you can start using your hosting account. Don't worry if you do, you can always come back to this task later on.

 
In this task you're going to modify the DNS records for your domain name and point it at your new hosting account. The work you done in the previous challenge on DNS is really going to pay off. This task should take you a few minutes.
 
The theory behind what you have to do is the same regardless of who you bought your domain or hosting from, but the practical application of this theory will be different in every case. But don't worry, it's very simple. 
 
  1. Get the IP address of the server that your hosting account is located on. You should have received this information from your host. Get in touch with them if you don't have it.
  2. Login to the website that you bought the domain from and find the screen that allows you to edit the DNS records for your domain. Modify the 'A record' for yourdomain.com and set the IP address for the 'A record' to the IP address of your hosting account.
  3. Finally you want to modify or add the DNS record for www.yourdomain.com and set it as a CNAME record for yourdomain.com.

 

Now you just have to wait for up to 24 hours ( although it's normally a lot sooner than that) for the DNS information for your domain to propagate across the internet. When everything is done, your hosting account should now be available by typing http://yourdomain.com into your web browser.

Task Discussion


  • Ashish Gautam Karn said:

    MY NEW WEBSITE IS:

    https://www.rebelmouse.com/AshishGautamKarn/

    on Sept. 3, 2014, 2:27 p.m.
  • Johnny van der Laan said:

    Yeah have a good domain name should mess with this.

    on May 12, 2014, 12:27 p.m.
  • Ryan Guy said:

    So I gave several blog posts a read...and I still think I am going to stick with DreamHost.

    on Nov. 18, 2013, 2:12 a.m.
  • Veronica said:

    LIke Erica, I took care of both the hosting and the domain name by upgrading a wordpress blog. That feels like cheating to me somehow. 

     

    Any advice about how to learn what this challenge is teaching without paying for different hosting/domains elsewhere?

    on Sept. 2, 2013, 10:40 p.m.
  • ericaeducator said:

    As the poster just below me said, the company often makes it as easy as possible to set up on your behalf.  

    The only pain is when you're trying to create a website with a new company -- for instance, if you had a colleague who created a site using FrontPage for Mac, and then you decided to create a Wix site to replace his or her lame version of a website, but you wanted to maintain the domain name and have it point to YOUR awesome new website and not his or her lame one anymore -- then you need to make sure that the colleague who originally purchased this domain name sets up the DLN on their end to point to YOUR new website so that whenever anyone attempts to type the domain name in, they're going to get your awesome site and not the lame one.  Make sense?

    Good!

    Typed from prior experience, as if you couldn't tell ;) 

    My portfolio site, www.ericaeducator.com was easy to set up because I upgraded to the Wordpress.com business package and they had me click which address I wanted to make as the primary and the rest was done for me!  Perfection!

    Erica :)

    on July 28, 2013, 12:25 a.m.
  • Joby John KJ said:

    Honestly all these was done automatically by godaddy.com as i choose them as domain name provider and hosting provider. however i went to control panel to verify these record. 

    CNAME withe www already exists.

    http://www.jobyjohnkj.com

    on July 26, 2013, 6:38 p.m.
  • Mandy Real said:

    My personal site:

    http://www.normandyreal.com/

    Just to confirm that the domain name has been successfully tied to the free web hosting service :)

     

     

    on April 19, 2013, 12:19 a.m.
  • Mandy Real said:

    My personal site:

    http://www.normandyreal.com/

    Just to confirm that the domain name has been successfully tied to the free web hosting service :)

     

     

    on April 19, 2013, 12:19 a.m.
  • Mandy Real said:

    My personal site:

    http://www.normandyreal.com/

    Just to confirm that the domain name has been successfully tied to the free web hosting service :)

     

     

    on April 19, 2013, 12:18 a.m.

    Nicolem said:

    Hi Mandy,

    Looks great so far, What free hosting company did you end up with?

    Nic

    on July 10, 2013, 3:59 a.m. in reply to Mandy Real
  • Agamos said:

    on April 17, 2013, 9:13 a.m.
  • Steve said:

    on March 21, 2013, 7 a.m.
  • n3on3ko said:

    I havent done this specificaly for this task but here is a website of mine ( a work in progress at the moment).

    on March 10, 2013, 3:32 p.m.