Techinical question for techies!

Alright guys... this is a bit embarssing to ask as a consider myself to be a bit of a techy.

I have successfully turned my OSX iMac into an Apache web-server using all the built in tools. I registered a domain for the site and now want to get things running.

I am confused as to what information specifically I need to input to the site where the domain is registered and where I find that information on my mac.

The site wants a host name and an IP address?

ack... I am lost and could use some help!

thanks

oh and the website is here for now:
http://h-68-164-0-6.chcgilgm.covad.net/~alex/

*for the record that is not the finished version of the site!*

You are going to also need a DNS server serving as the nameserver for your domain. This is what your "registrar" needs in order to associate your domain name with the correct IP address.

The DNS server will translate your registered domain name to the IP address assigned to your system (which apparantly looks like 68.164.0.6.

You need to make sure you do not have a "dynamic" ip address from your ISP. You should probably find out if your ISP will even allow you to do what you are trying to do. Mine will not. There are basically too many security holes with most internet server products and you usually end up paying a lot more money for an ISP that will 1. allow web servers and 2. assign a static IP address (one that will not change)

Let me know if you have any more questions.

I have an ADSL acount with Earthlink which uses PPPoE to connect. Wouldn't it be possible to run a webserver through this and have a domain link to it, and then just any time the computer A. went off or B. the connection reset to manually update the IP on the site?

The PPOE is just a spoof dialer to guarantee you get a new IP address when you log into the system. If you were to connect a server to you would have to either:

Pay through the nose for an always on connection, and most telcos offering DSL charge not only upwards of 300 bucks a month for a static IP, they charge for bandwidth over a certain amount per month, so you could feasably get stuck with a 26,000 thousand dollar bill. I've read some stories about people whacked with enormous bandwidth surcharges in the past.

Connect to your account, determined your IP address, then never disconnect your computer from the DSL connection. This presents problems though. Most DSL companies (and all CATV companies) uses a rolling IP address structure, that is, regardless of connection the server will reallocate a dynamic IP address every X number of hours. It's a security feature.

So, you need to register your domain with a hosting company or pay through the nose.

They will take care of all the problems with hosting web sites on the internet.

When you choose a hosting company, you will be provided with the hosting servers nameserver information which you can then provide your registrar.

As cool as it sounds, hosting a domain on your own machine would be a huge headache, IMHO.

Go to http://www.digitalspace.net

CHEAP web hosting (starting at $3/month), free e-mail aliases and accounts, lots more. I have had my domain with them for almost 2 years now, have never had a problem.

I wholeheartedly recommend them.

Does sound nice... but I almost want to find a way to do this on my own.

I got a sugestion from someone on another board to go get a DNS address from a site that provides them for free. I did this and now am waiting to see if I am going to be able to make it work.

One of my concerns with going with a hosting service is that I will not be able to use moveable type which I had hoped to be able to use as a posting system. I have it installed on this computer and ready to go!

I registered at ZoneEdit.com, which gave me 2 host names and IP addresses to input at my registar. After inputing the information there, I went back and entered my domain name, my information, and my IP address at ZoneEdit.

At Zone Edit it says:
"If you see a warning near the top of this screen that says "Your nameservers are incorrect", then any updates you make will take effect when your nameservers have switched. You must call your registrar (the company you purchased your domain from) to make this switch in order for our servers to have the authority to serve DNS for your domain. This initial switch will take 3 days."

and at domainpeople.com (my registar) it says:
"Update Complete ! : Whois update will take effect within 30 minutes. Changes will be issued into the root zone files within 24 hours. Full propagation over the Internet of name server changes may take 48 hours or more. Thank you. "

So I am guessing I have to wait awhile before the update takes effect? I think it might be worth it for me to manually change my IP when needed. The only time the IP changes is when I reconnect.

I think it may work? If you guys have any more advice that'd be great!

Telcos use a rolling IP allocation (i.e. a change every 24 hours if still logged on) structure for a variety of reasons:

Increased security. It is a small measure to protect you from potenial hackers.
To ensure that all of their customers have available IP addresses. IP addresses are a finite resource. Rolling IP addresses keeps the unused (or potentially needed) IP addresses in a pool for customer use.

You can certainly try the solution mentioned above, but I telling you: If anyone locates your site, even once it will be a miracle because you will have to update your IP address with the DNS every 24-48 hours and with a standard 48 hour propagation time your changes will outpace the propagation in under a week.

Worse still, you might be in voilation of your end user agreement, and with DSL a limited commodity, I wouldn't want to risk having account shut off.

Get a hosting service or buy a static IP address (but bring money).

You are setting yourself up for a MASSIVE headache.