[Xitami] Domain Recognition

[Paul Reid]

>  how to have Xitami recognize my domain name. 

Web servers don't know their own names. (They can, but they don't have to.)

And there are really no names on the Internet, only numbers.

But people prefer to give machines names, because numbers are hard to
remember.

Look at what happens when you type a name like "yahoo.com" at your browser.
The browser says "What do I do with this? I need a number!". But it knows that
the user probably does not know the number. 

What the webserver (actually the TCP network stack) does is ask a DNS server.
All ISPs are required to have a DNS server to serve their customers and to
answer requests for name/number lookups from other DNS servers.

I have a site http://summerfest.rutgers.edu . You are using pbi.net (PacBell?)
as an ISP. Your browser calls pbi.net's DNS server and asks "What's the number
for summerfest.rutgers.edu?" pbi.net's DNS server probably never heard of
summerfest.rutgers.edu, but it heard of rutgers.edu (or it asks a master .EDU
DNS system for the number of rutgers.edu's DNS server). It asks
DNS1.rutgers.edu "what is the number for summerfest.rutgers.edu?" and gets the
answer "165.230.87.130". Your browser opens 165.230.87.130. The Xitami at that
address serves you a page. 

Now, how did DNS1.rutgers.edu know that summerfest.rutgers.edu is a name for
165.230.87.130 ? I called our DNS guy and asked him to add
"summerfest.rutgers.edu", pointed to that IP number, to Rutgers' DNS system. 

Since you have a Commercial ISP, there will be differences. First: is your IP
number Static? My server's IP number has never changed. Many DSL etc accounts
get a new IP number every few days. There are ways to handle Dynamic IP
allocation, but it is trickier and less reliable than a Static IP. Note that
asking your ISP for a Static IP may require that you convert to a more
expensive "business" account!

With a static IP, your ISP should be able to add your hostname to their DNS
system, for all the world to lookup. But at Commercial ISP providers, this
often costs "extra".

And by asking for a Static IP and a DNS entry, you are telling your ISP that
you are running a public server. Such servers -sometimes- generate a lot of
traffic, more than the ISP expects for a "home surfer" account. So they may
bump you up to a more expensive account. 

Technically you can buy DNS service from anyone. There are even "Dynamic IP
DNS" servers that can change your listed IP number almost as often as your ISP
reassigns your IP number. 

You "can" set up your own DNS service, but: (A) this is very geeky stuff to do
correctly (B) some -other- DNS service has to know about your DNS service or
nobody will find your DNS server. You can register your own DNS with InterNIC
(the people who hold your domain name registration) but they like to see two
DNS providers, not in the same place. I don't think this is for a "serious
newbie" as you describe yourself. 

The "right" answer is "Call your ISP and talk". But try to avoid saying who
you are until you find out if this will run up your bill. 

 -PRR