PC Pals Forum

Technical Help & Discussion => Website Design & Programming => Topic started by: Simon on May 20, 2004, 18:37

Title: Getting Started With Hosting ...
Post by: Simon on May 20, 2004, 18:37
I am considering registering a domain name for e-mails, webspace etc, and wondered if anyone could recommend a good, reliable, cheap UK host?

TIA  :thumb:
Title: Re:Domain Host?
Post by: Sandra on May 20, 2004, 18:45
You can get a free domain name here Simon, I have been using one for my server for about 8 months with no problems.

http://www.dynu.com (http://www.dynu.com)

It has paid for e mail storage/forwarding if desired, dont know how it compares cost wise or whether they offer webspace as well  :)
Title: Re:Domain Host?
Post by: Simon on May 20, 2004, 18:51
I would prefer a UK based one, Sandra.  Dynu would cost $25 per year to host a domain, plus extra costs for the e-mail services.
Title: Re:Domain Host?
Post by: Rodders on May 20, 2004, 21:24
I pay £29.99 pa for the services of these fine people: Alivewww (http://www.alivewww.com/unixhosting.php).  Support (via email) is friendly and very human.  I'm into my second year with them and have absolutely no qualms about recommending them to anyone who'll listen.
Title: Re:Domain Host?
Post by: Simon on May 20, 2004, 22:29
Well, as I said, I am only considering this, and having looked at things again, it seems a little bit extravagant to pay out for a hosting service, which would basically be only used for e-mail.  I was looking at alternatives to my current e-mail @Talk21, as they have now decided that we've all had it too good for too long, and are introducing a monthly £1.50 charge for POP3 services.
Title: Re:Domain Host?
Post by: Camstop on May 20, 2004, 22:42
I use www.domainbuster.com (http://www.domainbuster.com/) which were included with my Fast24 isp account.

The prices are for 2 years and i have my sig on there as well as some other stuff  :whistle: and although i have left Fast24 about 6 months ago it's still working  ;D ;D ;D

I do keep meaning to contact them to make sure it don't stop  :o ;) ;D
Title: redirecting traffic to old site using new domain name
Post by: PhilTheFish on October 31, 2005, 14:36
Hi all,

I currently have my own site on Wanadoo free web space and I am thinking about registering my own domain name. I want to keep the website where it is for now, but want to be able to access it by just typing my new web address into the address bar.

Is this simple to do? Instructions on how to do it would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance
Phil
Title: redirecting traffic to old site using new domain name
Post by: Sandra on October 31, 2005, 14:59
I am not sure how to redirect to your existing page but I should think its probably quite easy for someone who knows how to do it.

One way you could do it very easily is by using a program that I have used called TrendyFlash Intro builder available from here :

http://www.trendyflash.com/tdc/tdcibhelp.htm

Unfortunately its not free but you can get a trial version for free to see how it works, I am not sure what the limitations of the trial are.

This is an example of one I made for a friends company.

http://www.cut-it-out.co.uk/

His website is actually www.swift-signs.co.uk but hed registered and got some webspace in the domain of www.cut-it-out.co.uk

As you can see it opens from his domain name address and then automaticaly goes to his main website, obviously you can make the intro shorter or longer than this example or more complicated or simpler.
Also with or without audio and of course there is the "Skip Intro" option that comes up quite early if someone wants to go directly to your existing website  :)
Title: redirecting traffic to old site using new domain name
Post by: DJ on October 31, 2005, 15:17
Hi

Sometimes when you sign up for a domain name you get a free redirection service from the providers control center.

The HTML code to redirect to a certain page is as follows:

Code: [Select]
<html>
<head>
<META HTTP-EQUIV="Refresh" CONTENT="0; URL=http://www.yoursite.com">
</head>
</html>


Just make an index.html file with the above code in it, replace yoursite.com with your wanadoo site name and place the file in the directory for your new domain name.

Any questions just ask - hope it works!

DJ

EDIT - Forgot to say, the 0 in the code means it waits zero seconds before redirection. If you want to put a message on the page then redirect you can  simply add html code to the body of the page and set the time before redirection to a higher number.
Title: redirecting traffic to old site using new domain name
Post by: Simon on October 31, 2005, 15:18
DJ, can Phil not simply point the new domain to the old (Wanadoo) name servers, via the user control panel?  PC Pals is with 123reg.co.uk, and I'm sure that's what we did when we changed hosts.  It possibly may not work with free web space such as Wanadoo, or I may have misunderstood completely!  :|
Title: redirecting traffic to old site using new domain name
Post by: DJ on October 31, 2005, 15:21
Quote from: "Simon"
DJ, can Phil not simply point the new domain to the old (Wanadoo) name servers, via the user control panel?  PC Pals is with 123reg.co.uk, and I'm sure that's what we did when we changed hosts.  It possibly may not work with free web space such as Wanadoo, or I may have misunderstood completely!  :|


Yep he probably can and that'll be the easiest way to do it.  Thats what I meant when I said

Quote

Sometimes when you sign up for a domain name you get a free redirection service from the providers control center.


But without knowing which host he is going to use, I thought the HTML code might be of use. :smile:

DJ
Title: redirecting traffic to old site using new domain name
Post by: sam on October 31, 2005, 20:36
indeed it would be! in fact thats what we use on pc-pals for the switch from the home directory (pc-pals.com) to the forum directory.
Title: redirecting traffic to old site using new domain name
Post by: PhilTheFish on November 02, 2005, 14:23
Thanks v.much for the replies.

I was thinking of signing up with 1and1. They would charge £1.99 per year for my .co.uk domain name.

Anyone have any experience with them?
Title: redirecting traffic to old site using new domain name
Post by: DJ on November 02, 2005, 14:35
Yep I've had domains with them for over 3 years now.  Make sure you sign up for the Instant Domain Registraton package (I think thats what its called) at £1.99 and not more expensive mail / hosting packages.

Only problem I've had is that when I wanted to cancel a domain - I had to ask twice as they lost one of my faxes - but it all got sorted quite quickly.

They have the option in their control panel to redirect automatically to a different site.

Good Luck

DJ
Title: Getting Started With Hosting ...
Post by: DJ on June 01, 2006, 19:51
Hi

I'm looking to consolidate my domain registration companies and maybe get a new hosting company as well.

I currently have the following - (simplified!)...

domain1 (.com) - host and register at b-one.net
domain2 (.info) - register as oneandone.co.uk and host as current ISP
domain3 (.co.uk) - same as domain2 - on same account as domain2
domain4 (.co.uk) - same as domain2 - but separate account
domain5 (.co.uk) - same as domain2 - same account as domain4.

Ideally, I'd like to have them all registered under the same company.  I'm looking to get rid of domain2 (.info) as I don't use it.  Also I want to move away from hosting on my current ISP - so I can change broadband providers at a later date.

Now my questions, is there a company that anyone would recommend that  I sign up for hosting and / or registers.  Do companies allow multiple domain registrations on one hosting account (I know b-one.net don't). Also some don't allow transfer of .co.uk domains.  Also the cheaper the better!

Thanks all,

DJ
Title: Domains / Hosting
Post by: Simon on June 01, 2006, 22:09
Pals is registered with http://www.123-reg.co.uk/ (http://www.123-reg.co.uk/).  I think their prices are as competetive as any, however, I would not recommend using Pipex Web Fusion, their sister company, for hosting, as we have had serious problems with them in the past, although admittedly things seem to be fairly steady at the moment.
Title: Purchasing a domain name
Post by: Clive on November 19, 2006, 12:01
I need to purchase a domain name.  Any recommendations on which company I should use?
Title: Re: Purchasing a domain name
Post by: Clive on November 19, 2006, 15:06
I've signed up with a company called UK2net.  It cost me £10 for 2 years.  Gulp..... :)
Title: Re: Purchasing a domain name
Post by: Simon on November 19, 2006, 17:28
Well, you could have used the ones we are with, which is 123-reg.co.uk, but I guess it's too late now.
Title: Re: Purchasing a domain name
Post by: Clive on November 19, 2006, 21:35
Oh I forgot about them!   :bawl:
Title: Re: Purchasing a domain name
Post by: DJ on December 31, 2006, 12:33
I never saw this thread first time around - sorry!

I use www.oneandone.co.uk for domains or if you need hosting as well I also use www.one.com for domain and hosting.

DJ
Title: Getting Started With Hosting ...
Post by: Phronesis on December 08, 2007, 20:51
Hi Everyone,

New to the board so firstly nice to "meet" you all!

I am not new to website creation, I've probably made about 50 websites of varying styles over the last 7-8 years.  None that good but I do like to dabble.  I always use a service provider like Yahoo Geocities or someone similar to do the actual hosting. 

Recently a lot of my friends have joined a small social networking site and we are now considering creating our own little social networking site, more as a test to see if we actually CAN do it.  None of us are that web literate and I'm sure it will all fall apart but we are willing to give it a shot, well mainly *I'm* willing to give it a shot!

On another note I am thinking of starting my own website that I wish to host myself.  The only problem is I have no idea how to go about it, I mean no idea AT ALL.  I seem to recall once installing Apache on my computer and going "ooo" when it looked like my PC was a server with MySQL on it but that is as far as I got and I never got any further with it.

Does anyone have any helpful hints?  Advice?  Books I can read (will have to be Dummies Guide style because that's my limit!) or interesting links?  I'd be most grateful if anyone can help with my little project!

Thanks in advance,

Mandy
Title: Re: Getting Started With Hosting ...
Post by: Simon on December 08, 2007, 21:24
Hi Mandy, and  :welcome:

I'm sure someone will be along later with some more practical advice, but they will probably ask what sort of website you want to create?  Would it be just basic photos, blogs, etc?  In that case, if your ISP includes webspace with your package, you may well be able to host something basic on there.  If you are looking at anything more advanced, including PHP, MySQL etc, you would need to be looking for a professional hosting package.  As a company, I wouldn't recommend them (they are part of Pipex), but PC Pals is hosted with WebFusion (http://www.webfusion.co.uk/), and I have to begrudgingly acknowledge that we have had very little in the way of problems from them, apart from a few minutes downtime a couple of weeks ago, and we have just signed up for our third year with them.

Hope that helps in some small way.  :)
Title: Re: Getting Started With Hosting ...
Post by: Camstop on December 08, 2007, 22:08
Hi Mandy  :welcome:


This company seems to be well recommended for hosting and they sell domain names too www.123-reg.co.uk/web-hosting (http://www.123-reg.co.uk/web-hosting/?GCID=S13274x054-getinto&keyword=best%20hosting&gclid=CJyWse_UmZACFSCBEgodx3Uv6w)

I use this free FTP for uploading to the net (third one down) FTP Commander (http://www.internet-soft.com/software-download.htm)


This link may help with creating a social network http://www.43things.com/create-a-social-networking-website (http://www.43things.com/things/view/605577/create-a-social-networking-website)


HTH  :)




Title: Re: Getting Started With Hosting ...
Post by: Phronesis on December 08, 2007, 23:29
Hi everyone and thanks for the suggestions, I'll certainly check them out!
Title: Re: Getting Started With Hosting ...
Post by: DJ on December 09, 2007, 11:57
Hi!!

I use www.one.com to host my site. I know you want to host your own - not sure how to do that  :-\ :blush:
:welcome:

DJ
Title: Re: Getting Started With Hosting ...
Post by: sam on December 09, 2007, 12:56
if you want to host on your own machine then you will need to just have a linux machine (can do it with windows but not sure how) running apache and the appropriate firewall setup on a router to allow communications to the world wide web, but it could be quite tricky to get the nameservers correct with a domain name (unless you have a static ip).
Title: Re: Getting Started With Hosting ...
Post by: Phronesis on December 09, 2007, 15:26
Hmm, thanks Sam.

Maybe it's a good idea to have someone host for me!  I just wanted a rough idea how I'd go about it but now I look into it it seems it would probably be easier to have someone else host.

Anyone have any ideas on social networking?  I've looked at, and dislike, Ning.com and their means to create your own social network because it's always too closely tied to Ning.  I've also looked at a couple of bits of software but they appear to have terrible reviews.  Does anyone know of any software or sites that may help? 
Title: Re: Getting Started With Hosting ...
Post by: sam on December 09, 2007, 15:49
I didn't mean to put you off - it can be done and there are some very useful guides around on google - depends what you want to do though. I think for a start it is best to pay for your hosting - that is how I did it and now I still use paid servers so I have 24 hour connectivity.

As for social networking, not sure - I use facebook but I have never played around with any software.
Title: Re: Getting Started With Hosting ...
Post by: Phronesis on December 09, 2007, 16:30
Oh you didn't put me off, it was bit of a stab in the dark idea but now I think about it - it will be hard enough doing all what I want to do without making it harder so if I pay for hosting to start with I can focus more on the sites I want to build and then take over hosting at a later date if I feel I want to.
Title: Re: Getting Started With Hosting ...
Post by: Adz on March 01, 2008, 12:00
If you're just getting to grips with it, i'd recommend www.dreamhost.com - probably the cheapest out there, and from experience of dozens of hosts out there, they do actually provide a decent budget service with a huge amount of (text based only) support, and features. Main plus points are hosting of unlimited domains, pop boxes, databases etc, not to mention access to useful tools like ffmpeg (video conversion on the fly, server side - ala youtube).

If you then need a bit more (normally faster response time), looks for a good UK based host, with a decent reseller package at a reasonable rate.
Title: Re: Getting Started With Hosting ...
Post by: Myst on March 20, 2009, 21:40
Perhaps not the cheapest for domain names, (123 reg are as good as they get + they have a very user freindly control panel)  but for UK based hosting i would recommend   http://www.hostingbegins.com/hosting

When i started out a few year ago i was recommeded  them from others on our forums - 100% reliable and a nice bloke too who runs it (Richy)

Hosting from £10pa  and a service that would make some the main players cry for
Title: Re: Getting Started With Hosting ...
Post by: Simon on March 20, 2009, 22:40
Handy to know.  Cheers!  :thumb: