In this video from ITFreeTraining, I will register a domain name using the internet
domain registrar GoDaddy. Before I get started with the process, I will first have a quick
look at the infrastructure behind the internet domain registrar which makes the whole process
work. Understanding this will help you troubleshoot your domain name when things go wrong.
When you register a domain name, you need to choose a top level name for the domain
name. Examples of top level domain names are .com and .net. Information about these top
level domains are held on special DNS servers and managed by approved organizations.
In this example, consider the top level domain .com is held on this server. As part of the
DNS resolving process, a DNS server may contact this server to find out where information
about a .com address can be found.
To understand the process a bit better consider what happens when you register a DNS name
and thus own and control part of the internet, so to speak. In order to do this, you need
to put the request to register the DNS name through an internet domain registrar, for
example Go Daddy.
If the request is successful, a zone file is created on the internet domain registrar
with the DNS records for the newly created domain name on a minimum of 2 DNS servers.
Once the zone file is created, you are free to add any record that you wish to this zone
file.
The issue is, how does a DNS server on the internet know how to find this zone file and
thus resolve DNS requests for that DNS name? In order for this to occur, DNS records in
the .com zone need to be created. These records contains the address of a minimum of 2 DNS
servers that hold the zone files. In this case, the internet registrar will have their
own DNS servers and will point these DNS records to their DNS servers.
So now everything is setup. If a DNS server wants to resolve a DNS request, it asks a
top level domain server where the zone file for that domain is being kept. The top level
domain DNS server will respond back with the address of the DNS server that is holding
the DNS zone. In this case, the DNS server will be one of the registrars that the DNS
name was registered with.
In some cases, you may have your own DNS servers you wish to use - or different DNS servers
hosted by another company. Remember you always need to have at least two. When this occurs,
you can have your registrar change the DNS record in the top level domain to the address
of your DNS servers. Once this is done, you simply need to create and manage your own
zone file on these DNS servers. Although this is possible, when you register a domain name
and use the hosting providing by that registrar and then add other services like e-mail, these
services are configured automatically if they are not pre-configured. If you change the
DNS servers you will need to ensure that the new DNS servers are configured with the required
DNS records. If they are not, be warned, if you attempt to restore the original settings,
the process can take 24 to 48 hours to completely take effect. For this reason think carefully
before you make such a decision to change which DNS servers are hosting the DNS records
for your site. I will now change to my Windows 8 computer to look at how to register a domain
name with GoDaddy.
First of all, I will open internet explorer and then open the page GoDaddy.com. To start
with, I will enter in the domain name ITFreeTraining.com to see if it is available to be registered.
Once I press go to perform the search, GoDaddy will respond back telling me that the domain
name ITFreeTraining.com has already been taken. If the domain name that you are looking for
has been taken, GoDaddy will give you some possible alternatives that have not been registered.
Notice at the bottom, there are also some domain names that have been registered but
are up for sale. You will also notice the cost of these domain names are quite high
compared to the cost of registering a new domain name. Hopefully the domain name that
you are after is available and you will not have to pay top dollar to buy it from someone
else - assuming that they are trying to sell it.
If I scroll up through the alternatives, there is one, TechFreeTraining.com which is similar
to ITFreeTraining.com so I will add that to my cart to be registered.
When the domain name is added to the cart, some additional options appear which can also
be added to the cart. If you press continue to checkout, none of these options will be
added. By default, the option “privacy protection” is selected.
GoDaddy has a lot of hotspot help points, if I move my mouse over this one, you can
see the difference between using privacy protection and without privacy protection. On the left
you can see all the personal details are available like address and phone number. Anyone using
whois, which is a DNS tool that is freely available, can look at this information. So
essentially whatever information you put in here is public information.
It is a requirement for registering domain names that this information is accurate. You
are also required to change this information if it is not accurate. If you do not want
this information to be public, you can select the privacy protection option and the result
of whois will appear with what is on the right. This time notice that the details are the
GoDaddy address and phone number. Also notice the e-mail address. Any e-mails sent to this
address will be automatically forwarded to you. This keeps all your personal details
secure. It is up to you if you want to pay the extra money to keep your details from
being known to the public.
You also have the option on the left, Domain only, however if you don’t press the add
button on the right, no additional products will be added and you will have the domain
only in the cart.
The option on the far right, “Privacy and Business Protection” gives you a few extra
features in addition to the privacy protection. Normally when a domain name expires it is
available to be registered and if someone registered before you, they could take your
domain name. This option prevents the domain from being registered for 12 months after
it has expired. It also prevents the domain from easily being transferred. This option
puts additional security on the domain which prevents the user from accidently transferring
the domain name to someone else.
In this case, I will add the option for privacy protection which will keep my details secure.
Now that it has been added to the cart, I will select the option at the top, continue
to checkout.
On the next screen, you can add additional packages. For example, the first option allows
you to have a website builder and hosting on GoDaddy. If you want to create your own
web site using the domain that you just registered, for a monthly fee GoDaddy will host your web
site. The website builder option allows you to create a web site with no technical knowledge.
It creates the web site based on the input that you give it.
If you know enough about web hosting, you can use the next option “Web Hosting”.
This will require you to know how to create your own web site. The last option allows
you to use GoDaddy to host your e-mail. If you do not choose any options here, you are
always free to use these services from someone else. So, when you register a domain name,
you are not locked into one provider. If you want to use someone else, it is just a matter
of changing the appropriate DNS records to point to the other host that is providing
that service. In this case, I will not be adding any additional services so I will select
“no thanks” and move on.
The next screen is the review screen where I can review what I am ordering. First of
all, I will select the term which has configured itself for 5 years. In this particular case,
I only want to register the domain for one year. It really depends on your budget how
long you decide, just remember that if the domain does expire, this will take down any
services associated with the domain and it is possible for someone to register the domain
name and thus take it from you.
Notice that the option for protecting your personal information has also been added.
If I scroll down you will also notice that a search for additional domains has been performed.
If you want to add additional top level domains of the same name, it is up to you.
Under this is a Promo code. Before you register the domain name, it is worth your time searching
the internet to see if you can get a promo code. This may save you some money.
Once you are happy, press the button for “proceed to checkout”. The next screen will ask you
if you are an existing or new customer. In this case I am a new customer so I will need
to press continue to register as a new customer.
The top part is just basic information about name and address. So, I will speed up the
video and skip past this.
The next section down is the username, pin and password. It is important not to forget
the username and password like with any user account. If you do have an issue and you need
to call GoDaddy up for support, the customer service representative will ask you for this
pin for identification so this is also an important item to remember.
Lastly at the bottom you need to enter in your credit card details - or Paypal details,
if you are using Payal. Notice the tick box at the bottom, “Use as ExpressCheckout for
future purchases”. If you leave this option ticked, any future purchases that you make
will be made automatically with this credit card.
Once I press continue, on the next screen I get the chance to confirm the details. Once
I am happy with the details and press “place your order”, the order will be placed and
the domain name will be registered to me.
Now that the domain name has been created, I next want to have a look at the admin tool
supplied by GoDaddy for performing administration of the newly registered domain name. To do
this, first of all, I need to press the login button at the top left and enter in my username
and password. Once I am logged in, the next step is to select the pull down menu on the
far left and then select the option “visit my account.”
Here you can launch the administration tool for any of the GoDaddy products that you are
using. If I open the domain section, notice in here that the one domain that I have registered
is listed here. If I want to perform administration on this domain, I can do so by pressing the
launch button on the far right.
This is the administration section of GoDaddy domain names. On the settings tab are a number
of domain settings. Some of these are GoDaddy settings and others are settings that are
stored on the top level domain server.
Notice that under “name server” there are two fully qualified domain names listed.
These are two of the DNS servers for GoDaddy. These two servers are stored on the Top Level
Domain Server. Essentially when a client asks who can provide answers for this domain name,
the top level domain server will response with one of these. You could change these
to non-GoDaddy DNS servers if you wish. Just remember that if you do these changes, it
can take anywhere from 24 to 48 hours to take effect. If you make a mistake and need to
change it back, it can take another 24 to 48 hours to change back to the previous settings.
Notice above this is the option for lock. Currently GoDaddy is responsible for managing
this DNS name. For example, changing the name servers listed below must be done through
GoDaddy, even if there are no services at all that are being used on GoDaddy. Even if
the zone file is not hosted on a GoDaddy DNS server, the low level changes for the DNS
domain need to be made here. In some cases, you may want to transfer the DNS name to another
registrar. A common reason for this is that you may be paying too much each year for the
domain name and have found a better deal somewhere else. Another common reason is that services
are being moved from one provider to another and, with it, the domain name is also being
transferred. In some cases this is a better option and, in a moment, we will see why.
The last common reason is that the domain name has been sold or transferred to another
party.
The lock option prevents the DNS domain from being managed by another registrar. If you
need to transfer the domain name to another registrar you need to select this option to
unlock it, which allows the DNS domain name to be transferred. Remember this has nothing
to do with the zone file or DNS record stored in that zone file.
Once the domain name has been unlocked, if I scroll down to the bottom, notice the option
authorization code. This option generates a one-off code that is used to transfer the
domain. When transferring the domain name, the second party needs to use this authorization
code to transfer the DNS domain - giving another layer of security when transferring domain
names.
I will now select the tab DNS Zone File. This will show all the DNS records that are stored
in the DNS Zone File on the GoDaddy DNS server. Currently, since my name servers are pointing
to the GoDaddy DNS servers, these DNS records stored in this zone file will be used.
If I scroll down you will notice that a whole heap of DNS records have already been created.
If I were using additional GoDaddy products, these DNS records would point to those GoDaddy
products. You can see why a lot of people will use the same hosting company that they
used to register the domain. Doing so means the DNS records are automatically configured
making the process of adding additional services a lot easier. However, this is not required.
If I scroll down further, notice that I have mail exchanger records, and right down at
the bottom, I have Nameserver records. These are listed as informational. This is basically
saying that these are the name server records that are stored in the top level domain server.
If you want to change these, you need to change them on the “settings” tab.
You are free to add additional name server records here if you wish or any other DNS
record that you wish. Any DNS server that holds a copy of the DNS zone file, and is
consider to be an authority for that zone, could be added here as a Name server. In this
case, no name server would need to be added since GoDaddy is handling this for us. However,
if you were managing a domain name for a company, you may need to add additional name servers
here.
Well, I hope you have learned a lot about how to register and manage domain names. If
you want to learn more about DNS or other IT related topics, please check out our web
site. Thanks for watching and see you next time.