Hi all,

Looking for info on getting my own domain name that can be used
for the BBS, and possibly other things (email, maybe website). I
understand I can go to domain.com or godaddy.com or whatever to
purchase the desired domain name. But after that - what else
needs to be done? During the domain name registration, do you
specify the IP address you want the domain to point to? And if
it's not a static IP, can you go back and change it as the IP
occasionally changes?

After all that, I understand the need to notify upstream links and
nodelist entries to reflect the new address. Just not sure about
how you go about directing the new address to my current IP
address.

Also, another thing I just thought of - is it usual that you get
to have "sub" domains from your new domain name? By that I mean
if I purchase/register "foobar.net", will I be able to do things
like use "bbs.foobar.net" and "web.foobar.net" and so on?

Thanks for any insights you can provide! Also open to suggestions
as to which domain registrar you would recommend.



... So easy, a child could do it. Child sold separately.
--- MultiMail/Linux v0.52
þ Synchronet þ Palantir BBS * palantirbbs.ddns.net * Pensacola, FL

On 5/17/2019 11:36 AM, Dan Clough wrote:

Hi all,

Looking for info on getting my own domain name that can be used
for the BBS, and possibly other things (email, maybe website). I
understand I can go to domain.com or godaddy.com or whatever to
purchase the desired domain name. But after that - what else
needs to be done? During the domain name registration, do you
specify the IP address you want the domain to point to?

Enter your IP as a type A record. (DNS Management on Godaddy)

it's not a static IP, can you go back and change it as the IP
occasionally changes?

Yes. Some domain registrars may have a dynamic updater or allow
scripted updating, I really haven't looked at one because my Comcast IP doesn't change frequently enough for me to worry about it.

After all that, I understand the need to notify upstream links and
nodelist entries to reflect the new address. Just not sure about
how you go about directing the new address to my current IP
address.

Also, another thing I just thought of - is it usual that you get
to have "sub" domains from your new domain name? By that I mean
if I purchase/register "foobar.net", will I be able to do things
like use "bbs.foobar.net" and "web.foobar.net" and so on?

I think synchronet (or Apache or whatever webserver) can do this but I
have never messed with it.

-Mindless
---
þ Synchronet þ * Origin: Eldritch Clockwork BBS - eldritchclockwork.net

Dan Clough wrote to All <=-

Looking for info on getting my own domain name that can be used
for the BBS, and possibly other things (email, maybe website). I understand I can go to domain.com or godaddy.com or whatever to
purchase the desired domain name. But after that - what else
needs to be done?

You'll need someone to host the domain for you. Once you own the
domain, you need a server on the internet to be the source of
information when people try to resolve www.yourdomain.com to an IP
address.

During the domain name registration, do you
specify the IP address you want the domain to point to?

Yes, you'd normally specify a couple of servers for redundancy.

And if
it's not a static IP, can you go back and change it as the IP
occasionally changes?

You'd want to use a system with static IP, as domain changes can take
a while to propogate across the internet, according to a setting in
the domain called TTL (time to live)

I use a service called DNSexit for my BBS domain - I registered realitycheckbbs.org through them, and they host DNS and mail relay
service for me.

From their servers, I can control which hostnames under
realitycheckBBS.org resolve to. Hosts can be static or dynamic,
dynamic hosts use an automatic updater that updates your domain the
same way one of the DDNS services do. My IP doesn't change often, so I
have my router update the A (address) record for realitycheckbbs.org
every couple of days, and all of the nicknames are CNAME records
pointing to the A record.

(You'll want to learn about A records, NS records, MX records and
CNAMEs before too long)

Also, another thing I just thought of - is it usual that you get
to have "sub" domains from your new domain name? By that I mean
if I purchase/register "foobar.net", will I be able to do things
like use "bbs.foobar.net" and "web.foobar.net" and so on?

Yes. on DNSexit a subdomain can point to an IP address, be a nickname
for another hostname that belongs to you or someone else, or be set up
as a web forwarder, so the URL gets redirected, but not any other
traffic.

I think these are good questions and they'll help others as well sort
things out.

Anyone else care to chime in?



... Have you ever asked a question you weren't supposed to ask?
--- MultiMail/XT v0.52
þ Synchronet þ realitycheckBBS -- http://realitycheckBBS.org

Hi Dan,

I'm currently using Cloudflare.com for manage my DNS.

( I generally register them at domain.com and then point to Cloudflare.
That's just semantics now, as you can register directly at Cloudflare now. )

I see you're on Linux, so that makes things a little easier?!?

apt-cache search ddclient
ddclient - address updating utility for dynamic DNS services
ddupdate - Tool updating DNS data for dynamic IP addresses

You can use these to watch for IP changes from your ISP and then have it
update the records at Cloudflare. (They also work at no-ip.org, etc.)

You can make the sub-domains whatever you like, it's really a matter of preference.

You could do, bbs.somedomain.com

Or be more specific like:

telnet.somedomain.com
ssh.somedomain.com
www.somedomain.com
binkp.somedomain.com

Whatever really makes sense to you.

Oh, I wouldn't put up an internt email server on your home IP. Most are blacklisted in the public spam databases, so your mail may never get
delivered (inbound and outbound.)

---
Ernest J Gainey III - LostCause Halfway House BBS
telnet://bbs.lostcause.house
http://bbs.lostcause.house

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A43 2019/03/02 (Linux/64)
* Origin: LostCause Halfway House BBS

Use noip they let you pick 3 domains for free,
And they have a little program that you can run
on your BBS computer that check's for ip address changes
That way your noip address will always update
your new IP.

---
þ Synchronet þ outwestbbs.com - the Outwest BBS

Re: Domain name registration
By: Dan Clough to All on Fri May 17 2019 10:36 am

Looking for info on getting my own domain name that can be used
for the BBS, and possibly other things (email, maybe website). I
understand I can go to domain.com or godaddy.com or whatever to
purchase the desired domain name. But after that - what else

I think you've probably got some fairly OK suggestions, but I'd like to point out a few things that people have not:

1) When you register a domain, it's then yours as long as you continue to pay the renewal fees. You can move it between registrars
if you, say, didn't like godaddy.com in the future, you could move it elsewhere. But don't ever let a renewal period go by if you
want to keep your domain.

2) I'm not sure what services godaddy provides per se, but with many registrars you shouldn't have to pay for the registration
there and then host the DNS elsewhere, many do it altogether for free. The suggestion to register at godaddy and then point it to
cloudflare to me seems a waste when you're just adding more hosting places in that create more points of failure.

After all that, I understand the need to notify upstream links and
nodelist entries to reflect the new address. Just not sure about
how you go about directing the new address to my current IP
address.

You can use a dynamic dns service to get a hostname for your dynamic IP - I don't know all the services but there's several out
there. Let's say you had a DDNS setup of myhome.freeddns.org (I just made ddns.org up - whatever the dynamic DNS service would
be), then you could point a CNAME record at your domain registrar/host of "mybbs.myawesomedomain.com" to myhome.freeddns.org and
that works. The only service that this won't work for is e-mail, as that requires an MX record and those records don't function
with CNAME records. (I apologise for getting more technical on this... if it requires clarification anywhere, do let me know.)

In synchronet you can work around this particular issue by specifying a separate host for e-mail from your BBS host - so e-mail for
your BBS could be known to be hosted on 'myhome.freeddns.org'.

Also, another thing I just thought of - is it usual that you get
to have "sub" domains from your new domain name? By that I mean
if I purchase/register "foobar.net", will I be able to do things
like use "bbs.foobar.net" and "web.foobar.net" and so on?

When you own a domain, you nearly truly 'own' it, therefore you can create whatever level of hosts and sub-hosts that you'd like,
so think big! I'd suggest you host your BBS at this.is.my.bbs.so.please.come.visit.it.foobar.net :-)

---
þ Synchronet þ VA7AQD's Tavern - bbs.isurf.ca

Mindless Automaton wrote to Dan Clough <=-

Looking for info on getting my own domain name that can be used
for the BBS, and possibly other things (email, maybe website). I
understand I can go to domain.com or godaddy.com or whatever to
purchase the desired domain name. But after that - what else
needs to be done? During the domain name registration, do you
specify the IP address you want the domain to point to?

Enter your IP as a type A record. (DNS Management on Godaddy)

it's not a static IP, can you go back and change it as the IP
occasionally changes?

Yes. Some domain registrars may have a dynamic updater or allow
scripted updating, I really haven't looked at one because my
Comcast IP doesn't change frequently enough for me to worry about
it.

Thanks for that info, appreciate the reply!



... Internal Error: The system has been taken over by sheep at line 19960
--- MultiMail/Linux v0.52
þ Synchronet þ Palantir BBS * palantirbbs.ddns.net * Pensacola, FL

poindexter FORTRAN wrote to Dan Clough <=-

Looking for info on getting my own domain name that can be used
for the BBS, and possibly other things (email, maybe website). I understand I can go to domain.com or godaddy.com or whatever to
purchase the desired domain name. But after that - what else
needs to be done?

You'll need someone to host the domain for you. Once you own the
domain, you need a server on the internet to be the source of
information when people try to resolve www.yourdomain.com to an
IP address.

During the domain name registration, do you
specify the IP address you want the domain to point to?

Yes, you'd normally specify a couple of servers for redundancy.

And if
it's not a static IP, can you go back and change it as the IP
occasionally changes?

You'd want to use a system with static IP, as domain changes can
take a while to propogate across the internet, according to a
setting in the domain called TTL (time to live)

I use a service called DNSexit for my BBS domain - I registered realitycheckbbs.org through them, and they host DNS and mail
relay service for me.

From their servers, I can control which hostnames under realitycheckBBS.org resolve to. Hosts can be static or dynamic,
dynamic hosts use an automatic updater that updates your domain
the same way one of the DDNS services do. My IP doesn't change
often, so I have my router update the A (address) record for realitycheckbbs.org every couple of days, and all of the
nicknames are CNAME records pointing to the A record.

(You'll want to learn about A records, NS records, MX records and
CNAMEs before too long)

Also, another thing I just thought of - is it usual that you get
to have "sub" domains from your new domain name? By that I mean
if I purchase/register "foobar.net", will I be able to do things
like use "bbs.foobar.net" and "web.foobar.net" and so on?

Yes. on DNSexit a subdomain can point to an IP address, be a
nickname for another hostname that belongs to you or someone
else, or be set up as a web forwarder, so the URL gets
redirected, but not any other traffic.

I think these are good questions and they'll help others as well
sort things out.

Anyone else care to chime in?

Thanks, sure appreciate that! Great information which helps me a
lot.



... A day without sunshine is like night.
--- MultiMail/Linux v0.52
þ Synchronet þ Palantir BBS * palantirbbs.ddns.net * Pensacola, FL

ernie wrote to Dan Clough <=-

I'm currently using Cloudflare.com for manage my DNS.

( I generally register them at domain.com and then point to
Cloudflare. That's just semantics now, as you can register
directly at Cloudflare now. )

I see you're on Linux, so that makes things a little easier?!?

apt-cache search ddclient
ddclient - address updating utility for dynamic DNS services
ddupdate - Tool updating DNS data for dynamic IP addresses

You can use these to watch for IP changes from your ISP and then
have it update the records at Cloudflare. (They also work at
no-ip.org, etc.)

You can make the sub-domains whatever you like, it's really a
matter of preference.

You could do, bbs.somedomain.com

Or be more specific like:

telnet.somedomain.com
ssh.somedomain.com
www.somedomain.com
binkp.somedomain.com

Whatever really makes sense to you.

Thanks Ernie! Really appreciate your reply!



... All the easy problems have been solved.
--- MultiMail/Linux v0.52
þ Synchronet þ Palantir BBS * palantirbbs.ddns.net * Pensacola, FL

Denn wrote to Dan Clough <=-

Use noip they let you pick 3 domains for free,
And they have a little program that you can run
on your BBS computer that check's for ip address changes
That way your noip address will always update
your new IP.

Yes, that's what I'm using now for the BBS address, including the
little auto-updater program you mention. It all works fine.

One of the reasons I'm thinking about going to a "real" domain is
that some places seem to restrict their outbound traffic to the
better-known dynamic DNS places (like noip/ddns, dynu.net, etc),
and that can limit the ability to connect to those addresses. Not
a real show-stopper but something to learn about also.

Thanks a lot for your reply.



... If it weren't for Edison we'd be using computers by candlelight
--- MultiMail/Linux v0.52
þ Synchronet þ Palantir BBS * palantirbbs.ddns.net * Pensacola, FL

Va7aqd wrote to Dan Clough <=-

Looking for info on getting my own domain name that can be used
for the BBS, and possibly other things (email, maybe website). I
understand I can go to domain.com or godaddy.com or whatever to
purchase the desired domain name. But after that - what else

I think you've probably got some fairly OK suggestions, but I'd
like to point out a few things that people have not:

1) When you register a domain, it's then yours as long as you
continue to pay the renewal fees. You can move it between
registrars if you, say, didn't like godaddy.com in the future,
you could move it elsewhere. But don't ever let a renewal period
go by if you want to keep your domain.

2) I'm not sure what services godaddy provides per se, but with
many registrars you shouldn't have to pay for the registration
there and then host the DNS elsewhere, many do it altogether for
free. The suggestion to register at godaddy and then point it to cloudflare to me seems a waste when you're just adding more
hosting places in that create more points of failure.

After all that, I understand the need to notify upstream links and
nodelist entries to reflect the new address. Just not sure about
how you go about directing the new address to my current IP
address.

You can use a dynamic dns service to get a hostname for your
dynamic IP - I don't know all the services but there's several
out there. Let's say you had a DDNS setup of myhome.freeddns.org
(I just made ddns.org up - whatever the dynamic DNS service would
be), then you could point a CNAME record at your domain
registrar/host of "mybbs.myawesomedomain.com" to
myhome.freeddns.org and that works. The only service that this
won't work for is e-mail, as that requires an MX record and those
records don't function with CNAME records. (I apologise for
getting more technical on this... if it requires clarification
anywhere, do let me know.)

In synchronet you can work around this particular issue by
specifying a separate host for e-mail from your BBS host - so
e-mail for your BBS could be known to be hosted on
'myhome.freeddns.org'.

Also, another thing I just thought of - is it usual that you get
to have "sub" domains from your new domain name? By that I mean
if I purchase/register "foobar.net", will I be able to do things
like use "bbs.foobar.net" and "web.foobar.net" and so on?

When you own a domain, you nearly truly 'own' it, therefore you
can create whatever level of hosts and sub-hosts that you'd like,
so think big! I'd suggest you host your BBS at this.is.my.bbs.so.please.come.visit.it.foobar.net :-)

Haha! Maybe not to that extreme... :-)

Great info and explanations, really do appreciate your time and
effort, thanks!



... Nothing is so smiple that it can't get screwed up.
--- MultiMail/Linux v0.52
þ Synchronet þ Palantir BBS * palantirbbs.ddns.net * Pensacola, FL

On 05-17-19 10:36, Dan Clough wrote to All <=-

@VIA: VERT/PALANT
Hi all,

Looking for info on getting my own domain name that can be used
for the BBS, and possibly other things (email, maybe website). I understand I can go to domain.com or godaddy.com or whatever to
purchase the desired domain name. But after that - what else
needs to be done? During the domain name registration, do you
specify the IP address you want the domain to point to? And if
it's not a static IP, can you go back and change it as the IP
occasionally changes?

Once you have your domain name, you need somewhere to host it. Some DNS providers, including GoDaddy offer free DNS hosting for their products. I use GoDaddy's free hosting for several domains myself. When available, this is often the easiest approach.

A second alternative is to partially or fully host your own domain. You need one DNS server, and access to one or more slave(secondary) servers. Again, free alternatives exist, where some providers are happy to offer a free slave server, that you can use for your domain. You need your own master server (setup with BIND or some other DNS server software). I use partial hosting for my VKRadio FTN subdomain. The master server is on one of my BBSs, where I can programatically update the zone information from the nodelist, each time a new nodelist is generated. The slave for this subdomain is one of the free secondary services, on the other side of the world. Of course, you can host your own slave DNS servers too, which will require one or more additional DNS servers, ideally geographically separated from the master.

And of course, you can pay for DNS hosting too. Cost is usually around a few dollars per month.

After all that, I understand the need to notify upstream links and nodelist entries to reflect the new address. Just not sure about
how you go about directing the new address to my current IP
address.

You need to add an A record for each name you want to point to an IPv4 address, and an AAAA record for IPv6 addresses.

Also, another thing I just thought of - is it usual that you get
to have "sub" domains from your new domain name? By that I mean
if I purchase/register "foobar.net", will I be able to do things
like use "bbs.foobar.net" and "web.foobar.net" and so on?

Yes, you can. These can be hosted on the same DNS server as part of the primary domain (I do this with zt.vkradio.com), where the A record might have:

bbs1.zt IN A 10.43.21.1

Thanks for any insights you can provide! Also open to suggestions
as to which domain registrar you would recommend.

I use GoDaddy. Reasonably priced, and they host your domain for free if you want. I use their free DNS hosting quite a bit. Given that you seem to have no DNS experience, this would be the way to go. You add records using a web interface, which is fairly straightforward to use.


... I was abducted by aliens and all I got was this lousy implant.
--- MultiMail/Win32 v0.49
þ Synchronet þ Freeway BBS, Bendigo Australia. freeway.apana.org.au

On 05-17-19 13:04, Mindless Automaton wrote to Dan Clough <=-

Enter your IP as a type A record. (DNS Management on Godaddy)

it's not a static IP, can you go back and change it as the IP
occasionally changes?

Yes. Some domain registrars may have a dynamic updater or allow
scripted updating, I really haven't looked at one because my Comcast IP doesn't change frequently enough for me to worry about it.

I don't normally do this either, because I have static IPs. A cheat's way to do this is register on a traditional DDNS provider, then add a CNAME record in your domain where:

bbs points to mybbs.ddnsprovider.com

After all that, I understand the need to notify upstream links and
nodelist entries to reflect the new address. Just not sure about
how you go about directing the new address to my current IP
address.

Also, another thing I just thought of - is it usual that you get
to have "sub" domains from your new domain name? By that I mean
if I purchase/register "foobar.net", will I be able to do things
like use "bbs.foobar.net" and "web.foobar.net" and so on?

I think synchronet (or Apache or whatever webserver) can do this but I have never messed with it.

I misread this as well, those are simply hostnames. Can use A records for them, or if they are the same IP address as "foobar.net", you can use CNAME records as aliases.


... Da trouble wit computers is, dey got no sense of humor.
--- MultiMail/Win32 v0.49
þ Synchronet þ Freeway BBS, Bendigo Australia. freeway.apana.org.au

On 05-17-19 17:28, Va7aqd wrote to Dan Clough <=-

2) I'm not sure what services godaddy provides per se, but with many registrars you shouldn't have to pay for the registration there and
then host the DNS elsewhere, many do it altogether for free. The suggestion to register at godaddy and then point it to cloudflare to me seems a waste when you're just adding more hosting places in that
create more points of failure.

Godaddy doesn't do dynamic DNS, but other than that it does full DNS hosting. I think it even does web redirects as well (strictly speaking, not a soley function of DNS).

Also, another thing I just thought of - is it usual that you get
to have "sub" domains from your new domain name? By that I mean
if I purchase/register "foobar.net", will I be able to do things
like use "bbs.foobar.net" and "web.foobar.net" and so on?

When you own a domain, you nearly truly 'own' it, therefore you can
create whatever level of hosts and sub-hosts that you'd like, so think big! I'd suggest you host your BBS at this.is.my.bbs.so.please.come.visit.it.foobar.net :-)

Yes, and I'm a prefect example of different subdomain setups. One, which I use internally (zt.vkradio.com) is actually not separate, but is hosted with my main domain, using A and AAAA records of the form hostname.zt, which translate to hostname.zt.vkradio.com .

ftn.vkradio.com is a different beast. Because I need my own master DNS server, for the level of control that I needed - programatically generating multiple DNS records from nodelist data required my own DNS server for simplicity. This subdomain is delegated to its own DNS servers from vkradio.com. Delegation is a technical term that means telling the world where the (sub)domain is hosted, and is basically the same process that registrars use to tell the world where your domain is hosted. You can delegate your own sub domains, if necessary (for 99% of people it's not), and involves the use of NS (nameserver) records to point to the sub domain's DNS servers. There's more to it than that (sometimes need "glue records, etc), but cross that bridge when you get to it. I'm just illustrating the flexibility that you have with DNS.


... If you do a favor, forget it. If you receive a favor, remember it.
--- MultiMail/Win32 v0.49
þ Synchronet þ Freeway BBS, Bendigo Australia. freeway.apana.org.au

Vk3jed wrote to Dan Clough <=-

Looking for info on getting my own domain name that can be used
for the BBS, and possibly other things (email, maybe website). I understand I can go to domain.com or godaddy.com or whatever to
purchase the desired domain name. But after that - what else
needs to be done? During the domain name registration, do you
specify the IP address you want the domain to point to? And if
it's not a static IP, can you go back and change it as the IP
occasionally changes?

Once you have your domain name, you need somewhere to host it.
Some DNS providers, including GoDaddy offer free DNS hosting for
their products. I use GoDaddy's free hosting for several domains
myself. When available, this is often the easiest approach.

<SNIPPED for brevity>

Thank you very much for taking the time for such a long reply.
I've saved it for reference and greatly appreciate the info!



... Do they dream?
--- MultiMail/Linux v0.52
þ Synchronet þ Palantir BBS * palantirbbs.ddns.net * Pensacola, FL

On 05-19-19 09:12, Dan Clough wrote to Vk3jed <=-

<SNIPPED for brevity>

Thank you very much for taking the time for such a long reply.
I've saved it for reference and greatly appreciate the info!

You're welcome. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask. :)


... I'm NOT addicted. I just use the modem all the time.
--- MultiMail/Win32 v0.49
þ Synchronet þ Freeway BBS, Bendigo Australia. freeway.apana.org.au