Host Records Help

This table associates a name with an address. You can associate any name with any Address. The address is either a numerical designator assigned to a computer on the network, or the host and domain of a machine, or a URL. No address can be greater than 260 characters total

If you want the record to point an IP address, you must select either a record type of "Address (A). You must also use the form xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx. The first and fourth xxx are numbers between 1 and 254. The second and third xxx are numbers between 0 and 254. An example of an IP address is: "189.23.125.3". If you are creating a new name, we have already filled-in the "www" host address with a default IP address that will display a web page that you can use to make sure the name is being properly delegated by our servers. This default web page address is "209.19.56.15". You are not required to use this IP address, and in fact, you will probably want to use your own as soon as you can. FYI, some other example IP address are: (Netscape 205.188.247.5), (Microsoft 207.46.130.150) (Yahoo 204.71.200.72).

If you use a host and domain combination, you must select the record type of "Alias (CNAME)". You must also use the format "www.mydomain.com.".

If you want the record to be forwarded to a URL you must select "URL Redirect" or "URL Frame" from the drop-down menu and enter a valid URL into the "Address" box.

If you do not enter a valid name, URL, or IP, then that host record (name & address pair) will not be added to the DNS or our database.

You can delete an entry by deleting the address and host name, then clicking the save button.

Record Types

We allow five types of address records to be added to our DNS servers. They are as follows:

• A (Address) Using this type of record allows you to associate a host with an IP address. The IP address that you use does not have to be on your network. For example, you could have the host record for www point to 207.46.130.14 (the address for the Microsoft web site).
• CNAME (Alias) An alias record type is used to associate a host name with another host. The host that you wish to point to does not have to be on your network. For example, you could have the host record for www point to www.microsoft.com. You can also simply use an "@" to represent your domain. Important:When you use a domain in the address field you must add a trailing period ("."). Unless you do so the name server will add your domain to the end of the domain given.
• URL Redirect URL Redirect is the standard method for URL Forwarding. When the client types in your domain name they are redirected to the web server that your page is hosted on. The only drawback of this method is as the person is looking around the site the URL that is displayed by the browser is the one of the actual web page, not your domain name. If this is a problem you can use the URL Frame method.
• URL Frame URL Frame is similar to URL Redirect except that instead of redirecting the client to your web page, the web page is displayed in a frame from our web server. With this method the client's browser will display your domain name (for example: www.mydomain.com) while they are using your site and not the actual URL to your page (for example: home.infospace.com/chris33").
  Note: If you use this method of forwarding, you will want to put the 'target="_top"' attribute into any links you have that leave your page.
• MX (User) (Only Available through Email Settings) Can be either a host name under this domain name (for example, "mail3") or the name of a mail server (for example, "mail.yahoo.com."). NOTE: When using a mail server name, it should end with a period ".". (If you forget the period and we recognize the TLD, we will automatically insert one.).

What are the terms for the parts of a domain name?
The "www" part of the address is an example of a third level domain. The "yourname" part is an example of a second level domain (SLD) and the ".com" is an example of a top level domain (TLD).

Why won't my url forward when I put it into the third level domain information?
You must be sure to click on "Save" when you are done to save the changes, it can take up to 2 hours for changes to take effect.

What is the meaning of the term "URL REDIRECT"?
With URL REDIRECT, when someone types your domain name, for example, www.yourname.com, we transfer them to your website and when they get there, they see the entire URL path to where your website is actually hosted, for example, http://www.geocities.com/yourpage/yourpics.html.

What is the meaning of the term "URL FRAME"?
With URL FRAME, when someone types in your domain name, for example, www.yourname.com, and they get to your website they only see your domain name in the browser address bar, for example, www.yourname.com