This article goes into some of the more advanced areas of domaining such as,  Nameserver Registration and and hosting, IE Reseller Hosting/Shared Hosting.

Now that you’ve registered your domain name you’re going to want to get hosting for it, you can’t have a site if you don’t have a host. There are a few things you should be careful of though when it comes to host hunting try to keep to these guidelines if you can.

1: Do a background check on your host

Your host may be a 14 year old running a reseller account, you will generally want to avoid these sort of hosts as the host probably won’t be able to help you with the more technical aspects related to your account and they will probably go to their own hosts for a solution or they just won’t do anything. Even if your host is a brand name host you will want to do a background check as they may have awful history with customers, 1 and 1 but to name a few.

Just ask around forums if anyone has dealt with your host before, a good place to try would be www.webhostingtalk.com another place that’s well worth a try is www.namepros.com or even www.digitalpoint.com

2: Shop Around

It’s worth shopping around a bit as you will probably save yourself a bundle of cash, don’t just go for the first offer that takes your fancy, chances are there’s a better deal elsewhere although the cheaper the deal you find the more likely you are to run into problems, it’s best to try to stick with brand name hosts such as hostgator and dreamhost , however there are some pretty decent non-branded hosts around, just do your homework before you go splashing out on a deal.

3: Does your host oversell?

It’s a good idea to check to see if your host oversells or not. When a host oversells they will be banking on the fact that not everybody will use all the space allocated to them and they will sell the extra unused space which nobody is using.

If your host oversells then chances are their server will be packed to the brim with accounts and as a result be slow, buggy and probably more trouble than they are worth in which case you will want to steer clear of them.

4: Is it too good to be true?

A lot of hosts will offer seemingly amazing plans but unfortunately they are more than likely selling what they don’t have, or overselling. A good way to tell is by the amount of space and bandwidth offered, for example a host may offer a shared hosting account with 50GB Space 900GB bandwidth for $34.99 it is highly unlikely, unless they are a brand name host that they will be able to sell this sort of plan, you only really likely get this sort of space & bandwidth with VPS hosting and dedicated servers, not shared hosting. If it sounds to good to be true then it probably is.

Types of hosting accounts

There are generally 4 different types of hosting accounts you can get although some aren’t strictly hosting accounts, they are as follows.

Shared hosting account
Reseller hosting
VPS
Dedicated Server

Shared Hosting Account

With a shared hosting account you share an IP address with other people on the same server, you just get so much space and bandwidth allocated to you.

Reseller Hosting

With a reseller hosting account you yourself can become a webhost and host anyones website, beware though as some webhosts offering reseller accounts may limit the number of accounts you can create, so pay close attention to the plan details. Don’t forget to shop around, some companies charge more than they should for reseller hosting.

VPS

A VPS is a Virtual Private Server, which is basically part of a server which is leased to you if you like, a VPS company can have multiple VPS’s set up on the one system.

It’s a good idea to get a VPS if you have own a network of sites, you will generally get lots more storage with a VPS than with a shared hosting account, for example with a decent VPS deal you would get 25GB Space and 500GB Bandwidth, You should also note that some hosts charge extra for direct admin / cpanel whm and you will want some sort of control panel with your vps if your hosting a network of sites . Below is a list of well known control panels;

Cpanel/WHM (Web Host Manager)
Plesk
Direct Admin (also known as DA) * Recommended

Whats the difference between managed & unmanaged?

You’ll find that some hosts only offer unmanaged VPS Servers whereas other hosts may offer managed VPS, the same goes for dedicated servers. With an unmanaged VPS Server you’d have to make all the OS (Operating System) updates yourself whereas with a managed one your host will do it for you, if your fairly new to the VPS scene you’ll want to get a managed VPS if you don’t want to get someone else to do the updates for you or to do them yourself.

Dedicated Server

With a dedicated server you will be buying a whole server rather than part of one, buying a dedicated server has it’s advantages but they can be very pricey which is why a lot of people choose a VPS, with a good dedicated server you’d get anything from 80GB space and upwards, you can usually get your host to ad more hardrives if you need more space, at a price of course. However the downside to a dedicated server is that they can be very expensive indeed which is why most people go for a VPS, you’d only really go for a dedicated server if you were a webhost or a medium to large company.

Getting your site live

Now that you’ve found your host you need to get your site live, this process may be slightly different depending on what type of hosting your going for.

Nameservers

Your host should by now have told you their nameservers which you must point your domain to in order for you to be able to use their services, normally you will be given two different nameservers which you’re to point your domain to although some hosts may have 3 or even 4 nameservers.

How to change/edit your dns nameservers:

Your namserver will look something like ns1.hostname.com & ns2.hostname.com sometimes it may be dns1.hostname.com or dns2.hostname.com

To edit your DNS Nameservers you will need to go into the domain management section of your control panel at your registrar, this may differ depending on registrar but it’s normally pretty much the same. For this example we’re using domainsite.com

Step1:
Click on the domain which you want to edit the nameservers of

Step2:
Click Edit Nameservers

Step3:
Remove the default nameservers by clicking remove, you will need to do this one by one

Step4:
Unlock your domain, you should see an image of a padlock in the domain management section of the domain your currently managing

Step5:
Click Edit Nameservers , then simply ad the nameservers by entering the nameservers your host told you in the text area (ns1.hostname.com & ns2.hostname.com, example), you will need to repeat the process for each nameserver and you may also need to repeat Step4 as domainsite has the habit of locking your domain again after any changes and your domain must be unlocked before you edit your nameservers.

Nameserver Registration

Be careful not to confuse nameserver registration with editing your nameserver, you need only register nameservers if you wish to host your own site, on a dedicated server or a vps server you can also register your own nameservers for the main domain on a reseller account.

If you need to register your own nameservers your host will give you one or two IP’s which you must use for the nameservers.  For example your host will give you something like 65.108.9.34 and 65.108.9.35 keep these handy as you will need them later on.

Now you need to go back to your domain management section, this time you need to click nameserver registration/register namservers. Again for this example we will use domainsite.com

Step1:

In the text area enter ns1.yourdomain.com if you see your domain name directly beside the text box you need only enter ns1.  Once you’ve done that click continue

Please Note: Remember to unlock your domain first, you may need to repeat this for each nameserver

Step2:

You will see the namserver you just entered above a text box, in this box you would enter the 1st IP  65.108.9.34 (example) then click add IP

Step3:

click continue managing this domain, then click register nameserver/nameserver registration then repeat Step1 but change the ns1 to ns2 instead

Step4:

Repeat Step2 but use  65.108.9.35 (example) instead.

That’s it, now you need to change your nameservers to the ones you just registered, just follow the guide above for editing your nameservers.

Now all you have to do is upload your site via FTP and your all set, happy developing.