Hosting a Web Site

References

• Wikipedia: 'Web Hosting Service'
• GoDaddy.com (Recommended domain service for this course)
• Freehostia.com (Recommended hosting service for this course)
• Best Domain Registrars (Disclaimer: The instructor does not endorse or oppose any of these domain registrars.)
• Best Website Hosting Providers (Disclaimer: The instructor does not endorse or oppose any of these hosting providers.)

Introduction

A Web site is made up of three main components:

1. A domain, also known as the site's URL
2. A Web server, also known as a hosting service or an Internet Service Provider (ISP)
3. The Web pages, written in the HyperText Markup Language (HTML) coding system and stored on the hosting service's digital storage (probably hard drives)

As you make your Web site, you will usually work on the Web pages on your local computer. You will store the files on your computer's hard drive, or on a USB jump drive, or an external hard drive. We will talk about the HTML pages in much more detail next week.

The site's Web pages will be viewed by its visitors by their putting the site's domain (URL) into their browser's address field, or clicking on a link which connects their browser to that same domain (URL). We will talk about how to put these links into a Web page in a few weeks.

The site's Web pages will be sent to the visitor's browser across the Internet, from the hard drive of the hosting Web server, in response to the user's request for the page. (Putting the site's domain into the address field, or clicking a hypertext link, is technically called making a request for a page from the Web server.)

What this situation boils down to is this: When you are satisfied that the site's pages are ready for viewing by the public, you will need to transfer the files/pages to the hosting Web server.

The site's Web pages can be transferred to the hosting server in several ways. We will talk later about using an FTP (File Transfer Process) app, or using the hosting server's File Manager.

Do Frequent Backups

But first, I want to emphasize something that doesn't seem to get discussed much:

You should frequently back up the local source files and resources for your Web site.

One really important time to do a backup is just before you modify and update your site.

Web Domains

The first step toward having a Web site is for you to register (buy) a URL, also known as a domain.

Many Web hosting services will register your domain name for you, but if you want to be sure that it is registered properly, you should probably do it yourself.

Buy your domain name from a reputable service, such as:

• GoDaddy.com
• Domain.com

Let's use GoDaddy.com for the following instructions for getting a domain. If you use another domain service, your experience will probably be slightly different.

Please note that some very inexpensive domain names are available. Some of the currently inexpensive domains end in ".xyz", ".site", ".website", ".club", ".biz", or ".us".

1. Open a new browser window and go to GoDaddy.com
2. Search for a domain (URL) that you would like for your site. Here are some sitename suggestions for you to search for, combined with one or more of the domain endings given above:
   • Your name, or some form of your name (with "-", for instance). But be aware that if you use your name as the basis for your domain, everyone who comes to your site in the future will have some clues about your name.
   • A pretend or real business name.
   • Anything else that you would like a URL for, as a class site.
   I tested a few combinations with the domain endings given above, and found URLs for about $0.99 or $1.99 for the first year.
3. When you find a domain name that you like which is available, add the domain to your cart.
4. Click the "Continue to Cart" button at the top of the page.
5. You probably DO NOT need to accept the "Privacy Protection", although you have the option of doing so. Check the "No Thanks" radio button if you don't want the Privacy Protection.
6. You should uncheck the checkbox next to "Start your website for FREE" because you will be coding the pages yourself, as we go through the semester. This choice, if left checked, would activate GoDaddy's sitebuilder feature, which you will not need.
7. Leave the email selection as "No Thanks".
8. Click the "Continue to Cart" button at the top.
9. Fill in your contact information.
10. Click the "Submit" button.
11. In the "Domain Registration" section, select "1 Year" in the list. Of course you could select multiple years, if this new domain is one that you think you might keep for awhile.
12. Enter your payment information. You may "Add" a payment method, including PayPal, by clicking the "Add" link.
13. Complete your purchase.
14. UNCHECK the "Includes a GoCentral website FREE for a month" checkbox.
15. Now you may log out of GoDaddy. (But make sure you can remember your username and password later!)

Web Hosting

As I mentioned earlier in this handout, a Web site needs to be located on a Web server, sometimes called a "host" or a "hosting service" or "Internet Service Provider" (ISP).

So after you get your domain/URL (see the previous section) you will need to either:

1. Build, run, and maintain your own Web server (NOT recommended!), or
2. Rent space on a Web server. There are even some good free Web hosting servers available. RECOMMENDED.

Try to find a Web hosting service that others have had good success with. Here are some possibilities:

• Freehostia.com is the best free hosting service that I have seen. They also have some paid hosting plans, but even their free plan is excellent. Several former students have hosted actual, small sites at freehostia.
• GoDaddy.com is the host for my site, jimlink.net; and several other sites that I have built. They have reasonably-priced plans and great customer service.

Let's use freehostia.com for the following instructions for getting an ISP. If you use another hosting service, your experience will probably be slightly different.

1. Open a new browser window and go to freehostia.com.
2. NOTE: If, somewhere along the way during this process of creating a hosting account, you see a checkbox that says "Do not manage DNS", DO NOT CHECK THIS CHECKBOX!!! Freehostia must be allowed to internally manage its own domain records for your site.
3. Click the "SIGN UP NOW FOR FREE" link in the upper right menu.
4. The next page should show "Chocolate" in the "(Cloud Hosting Plan)" list.
5. Leave the "Datacenter" as it is. It will probably show somewhere fairly close by, in the United States.
6. Also leave the "Script:" selection alone. It should show "None".
7. In the "Hosted Domain:" input field, type in or paste the domain URL that you just purchased.
8. Since you got your domain/URL elsewhere, DO NOT use the "Find your domain name" section.
9. Click the "Continue" button.
10. Fill in your contact information.
11. Click the checkbox that indicates that you agree with Freehostia's Terms and Conditions, etc.
12. Click the "I'm not a robot" checkbox.
13. Click the "Continue" button.
14. In the "THANK YOU" page that should open, type in a STRONG control panel password, which is also your account login password. WRITE DOWN YOUR PASSWORD IN A SECURE PLACE!
15. Click the "SET PASSWORD" button.
16. Dismiss the "Hosting Platform Upgrade Successful" window.
17. You should see the Control Panel.
18. Look at the top right of the Control Panel window, and find your Customer ID. Your username follows the Customer ID. WRITE DOWN YOUR CUSTOMER ID AND USERNAME! Your username is what you will need to log in to your Freehostia account again later.
19. Scroll down to the "System info" section. Find the "DNS Servers" section. Write down BOTH of the server URLs that you see there, or leave this window open.
20. You will need to verify your email address with Freehostia. Look in your email's inbox for the verification email that they should send to you soon, and follow their instructions.

After you have created a hosting account (with Freehostia.com or whatever other hosting service you decided on), open a new browser window and log in to your GoDaddy account (or wherever you purchased your domain/URL).

1. Click the "Domains" menu item, or click "Manage All" if you are in the "My Products" page.
2. In the "Domains" list, click on the domain name that you purchased.
3. Scroll down to the "Manage DNS" link, and click it.
4. In the "Nameservers" section, click the "Change" button.
   
   IMPORTANT: If you do not see a "Change" button in the "Nameservers" section, you probably have not yet successfully verified your e-mail address with GoDaddy. Check your email and complete that part of the process.
   
   
5. Select "Enter My Own Nameservers", or "Custom" if there is a choice of nameserver type.
6. Copy and paste the two "DNS Servers" URLs from the FreeHostia "System info" section, into the two "Nameserver" fields at GoDaddy.
7. Click the "Save" button.

It may take awhile for the domain that you purchased, to open the site that you have created at Freehostia. Try putting your domain's URL into your browser occasionally over the next few hours, until you see something like this in your browser:

Index of /

But it appears that Freehostia has changed their new site setup a bit, so you might NOT see in the browser, "Index of /".

You might, instead, see a page which gives some Freehostia advertising and such.

Either way, if you see "Index of /" or if you see a Freehostia advertising page when you put your URL into the browser, your setup has succeeded. Send an email to me, giving me the URL to your domain. (This is actually the final step in your assignment for this week.)

If you want to get rid of the advertising page, follow these steps:

1. Log in to your Freehostia account.
2. Navigate to the File Manager. You can get there by clicking "Files", "File Manager" at the top; or you can click on "Hosted Domains" at the left, double-click your domain name, and click the orange "File Folder" icon.
3. If you see a file called index.xhtml, DELETE it. Please note that this is an xhtml file, NOT an html file. It is temporary and safe to delete.

One more thing... In the Freehostia Control Panel, on the "Hosted Domains" page, if you see a red and white minus sign/circle icon in the "NS Status" column, click on it. It should reset the "invalid" status and change to a green checkmark.

When you see either of the two results above in your browser for your domain, you have successfully set up your domain/URL and your hosting service! Send an email to me, giving me the URL.