Newbie Questions

[JimMorrison]

Hi, im new to publishing websites. I just bought a domain name from melbourneit.com but after learning about hosting and checking out thier hosting prices i realized that i dont know enough about getting my website online. I don't know any good hosting websites. I don't know how to get my domain name i got from melbourneit.com and use it with a different host. The website is meant to be small but able to expand later. Anyone have any advice? Thanks.

[DanInManchester]

It depends where you are based. We use fasthosts for most our sites as they are one of the UK's largest data centres.

Usually when you register a domain you have a control panel that allows you at least to configure your DNS servers so you can point it to a different hosting provider. Some even allow you to edit your DNS record so you can point various domains and sub domains to various sites and services.

We have in the past used multiple registrants and pointed them to fasthosts DNS to use their hosting service. However to simplify account management we have sinced moved the domains to fasthosts so they are now the registrant. you do this by changing the ISP tag.

As for your hosting requirements you probably need a shared hosting plan of some sort. Your specific techincal requirements will depend on the site itself.

For example if you plan to work with ASP or ASP.net then you will need a Microsoft host. However if you are looking to use CGI and PHP you are probably better off going for linux based provider.

Another consideration is the database. With fasthosts you can use MSSQL and mySQL with either Windows or Linux however in most cases if you go for linux you use mySQL and Windows you use Access/MS SQL.

Most small - medium business sites don't need anything more powerful than Access assuming you don't have to do anything too complicated in terms of data manipulation with the data and you don't code badly. I run some pretty large sites of Access without any problems although there some minor drawbacks.

mySQL and MS SQL are undoutably more powerful and offer you a safety net incase you write sloppier code or experience high demand.

I wrote this article that gives a brief introduction to shared web hosting.
http://www.dbnetsolutions.co.uk/Articles/AffordableWebHosting.aspx