PhotoBiz Details

• IP address: 18.235.135.157 (we use shared hosting so this IP applies to all of our clients)

• Name Servers (gives us control over the domain zone file)

• Domain Propagation: Up to 48 hours

• Note: Can’t preview site during this time (use temp share if this is an issue)

• Misk.com/tools - This is a tool that is used to find out DNS information and also has a “who-is” tool.

Key Points

• Clients start with temporary shared domain (e.g., xxxxx.photobiz.com)

• Clients can buy domain registrations from us or, bring domain registrations over from 3rd party registrars.

• We sell domain registrations, the cost is $12 one time to register the domain name (.com, .net, .org, or .biz), plus $3.50 per month (or $42/annually) for domain name registration renewal.

• Always check for a domain based email before making domain changes.

Information Required to Make Domain Changes

• All domain changes must be handled through the domain queue (eg. domain name setup/change, MX, CNAME, TXT)

• Written confirmation of domain name (eg. submit domains ticket through control panel)

Domain Set Up Process

• Name server (RECOMMENDED SET UP)

• Customer submits “Domain Set Up Request” through control panel (menu > domains) , or calls in.

• Change name servers to point to ours (customer can do, or we can log into their domain registrar account to do it for them, document login details)

• Add domain to customer’s account using intranet 

• Allow up to 48 hours for propagation (can’t preview site during this time)

OR

• @ Host Record 

• If using A Record for main domain or sub-domain on PhotoBiz account

• Get domain registrar or host to point @ host Record to our IP address - 18.235.135.157

• Set up www CNAME record to point to @ or theclientsdomain.com

• Set up a *.theclientsdomain.com “A-Record” to point to 18.235.135.157 (this is called a wildcard record)

• If customer needs a sub-domain (not sub-directory) pointed to an IP address for something hosted externally

• Get IP address from customer and point A Record within Rackspace

• Less downtime, keeps DNS in their hands (control over the domain zone file)

Troubleshooting

• If a customer’s domain is not working

• Pull who.isƒ report: Review who owns domain name, who registrar is, and when it expires -- misk.com/tools

• Run a DNS report: Check zone file for domain name, review name servers, MX records, A Record, and CNAME -- misk.com/tools

• Ask them if anything recently changed with their domain

• Ping domain to verify IP address (pull command prompt by opening folder window and changing address to cmd. Type ‘ping domain.com’ press enter)

Hosting

• Dedicated Hosting: Lease your own web server and have your own unique IP address. Also called Dedicated IP.

• File Transfer Protocol (FTP): A way to upload a large number of files quickly to a web hosting account.

• Shared Hosting (what we use): Several sites all share the same web server and are all served by the same web server process. Most common type of personal web or small business hosting. PhotoBiz is an example of a shared hosting environment.

• Virtual Private Network (VPN): Multiple websites share the same web server, each in their own partition. Allows for tighter control of CPU resources, and traffic to sites on the server don’t effect each other.

Email

• We sell email for $4 per month - Rackspace Email

• Can use 3rd party email, would need any DNS records needed

• IMAP: Allows customers to manage email on multiple devices. 

• Post Office Protocol (POP): Allows customer to open a connection to the email server, retrieve mail, and delete it from the server if desired. It is fast, but does not allow two=way communication between the access point and the server. Not the best solution for accessing email from multiple devices.

Domains

• Domain Name System (DNS): Protocol by which IP addresses can be associated with a domain name that is made up of a human-readable word or phrase 

• IP Address (Internet protocol): Unique numeric address on the internet (ex. 18.235.135.157)

• Name server: Share information across the internet to translate IP addresses to domain names (e.g., ns.rackspace.com or ns2.rackspace.com)

• Second Level Domain: The portion of the domain that the customer chooses as their unique name (e.g. photobiz is the second level domain of photobiz.com)

• Server status codes: Indication codes a server sends to a requesting entity, which defines the status of the request. Most server codes are not seen by the visitor, unless there is a problem.

• 100: Used in test environments

• 200: Success

• 300: Redirects

• 400: Client Error

• 401 Unauthorized: Indicates an authentication failure when there is password protection

• 403 Forbidden: Server is refusing to respond. 

• 404 Not Found: File or directory does not exist.

• 500: Server Error

• 500 Internal Server Error: Server process did not work and no explanation is provided

• 503 Service unavailable: Temporary error that server is busy or down, check back later

• Sub-domain: A prefix to the second level domain that can be used to point to the main domain name, a unique IP address, or another domain or sub-domain (e.g., blog.domain.com). PhotoBiz cannot point sub-domains to a specific folder on another server.

• Sub-directory: A suffix to a domain (e.g., domain.com/blog)

• Top Level Domain (TLDs): 

• Generic Top Level Domains (gTLDs): Non-country specific domains (e.g., .com, .info, .biz, .net)

• Country Code Top Level Domains (ccTLDs): Country-specific domains (e.g., .uk, .au, .ca, .co.uk, .com.au)

• Zone files: Holds all of the information for how the domain should behave. A text file that contains the A record, CNAME record, and MX information along with any other info that is added such as the SPF record for email. 

• A Record: A subdomain set to point to an IP address. Points to webmail, blogs, sub-sites, etc.

• CNAME Record: Subdomains set to point to another domain or subdomain. 

• CNAME records can point to another domain name (e.g., domain.com). 

• CNAME records can point to another subdomain (e.g., blog.domain.com). 

• CNAME records cannot point to a subdirectory (e.g., domain.com/blog).

• MX Record: Mail exchange records direct the flow of email for the domain name. Points to email servers. MX Records cannot point to an IP address. A domain can only work with 1 email provider at a time. A domain can have multiple MX records provided they are all for the same provider.