ProZ.com provides comprehensive web hosting services to full platinum members. See the hosting info page for more information.

This document explains how to use the advanced domain name features provided by ProZ.com hosting.

Introduction

A domain name is the unique name that identifies an Internet site. Domain names always have 2 or more parts, separated by dots. The part on the left is the most specific, and the part on the right is the most general. A given Internet address may have more than one domain name, but a given domain name points to only one Internet address.

For example, the domain names www.example.com, mail.example.com, and ftp.example.com can all refer to the same machine, but each domain name can refer to no more than one machine.

A top-level domain, or TLD, is the right-most component of a domain name. For example, the top-level domain of example.com is ".com".

A subdomain is a domain that is part of a larger domain name. For example, both my.proz.com and john.my.proz.com are subdomains of proz.com.


Registering or transferring a domain name

To register a new domain name or transfer a domain you already own to ProZ.com, start at your hosting info page. If you have not yet signed up for a hosting account, click "sign up now" in the box for the hosting package you want to sign up for. If you already have a ProZ.com hosting account and want to register or transfer another domain, click the "buy now" link in the "domain name registration" box. During the sign-up process you will be asked whether you want to register or transfer a domain, and to enter the contact information for your domain.

While the standard hosting package is provided for free to platinum members, please note that domain registration is not free. An annual fee must be paid to a domain registrar to maintain your domain name in the Internet domain registry. When transferring a domain that you already own, you must pay a one-year renewal fee, and an additional year will be added to your domain registration.

New domains generally take 24 to 48 hours to be entered into the nameserver database. Transfers from a different registrar can take up to one week.

If you transfer your domain to ProZ.com, after the transfer has been completed you should verify that your name servers are set appropriately for ProZ.com hosting, as described in the name servers section.

Special notes about registering .UK domains

All .UK registrations are set for two years. The registry does not offer any other registration periods at this time. Renewals can be requested six months before the expiry date of your domain, at which time it can be renewed for another two years.

When a .UK domain has been successfully registered, Nominet sends a confirmation of registration letter to the registrant. This letter includes a security code to access "Registrants Online" (a tool where registrants can manage their contact information), and Nominet's terms and conditions. In order to complete your .UK domain registration, you must complete the registration confirmation form located in "Registrants Online".

Transfers of .UK domains are not currently available. Instead, use your existing registrar and configure your name servers as described below.


Managing your domain

Once your domain registration or transfer has successfully completed, you can manage your domain information by clicking "Manage My Domains" on your hosting info page.

The domain management interface allows you to edit your contact information; to modify your nameserver configuration; to "lock" your domain so that it cannot be transferred away without your explicit intervention; and to control various other domain options that vary among different top-level domains.

It is very important that you keep your contact information up to date. Otherwise someone else could request that your domain be transferred to them, and you would not receive an email notification allowing you to cancel the transfer. You could also miss a domain renewal reminder, causing your domain registration to expire.


Name server configuration

A domain's name servers define where the domain is hosted. Domains hosted at ProZ.com should use the following name servers:

Primary nameserver:	NS1.HOST.PROZ.COM	96.47.67.61
Secondary nameserver:	NS2.HOST.PROZ.COM	96.47.67.62

In most cases this will have been taken care of automatically when you registered your domain.

If ProZ.com is your domain registrar, you can manage your domain's name servers by selecting the "Name Servers" option in your domain management interface, described above.

If you chose to use a different domain registrar than ProZ.com, contact your domain registrar to find out how to set your domain's name servers to ProZ.com's name servers.


"Parking" one domain on top of another

The advanced hosting package allows you to have multiple different domain names pointing to your hosting account. In cPanel's terminology, this is known as "parking" a domain on top of your primary hosted domain.

For example, if your primary hosted domain is example.com, and you also own example.net, you can "park" example.net on top of example.com. Then all URLs using example.net will automatically show the same content as their corresponding URLs in example.com. Additionally, email sent to example.net will automatically be forwarded to the corresponding account in example.com.

To manage your parked domains, log in to your control panel. Then click the "Parked Domains" option. This page lists your existing parked domains, and provides options to add or remove parked domains.

IMPORTANT: Note that you must already own the domain name you want to park, and it must be configured to use the appropriate name servers, as described above.


Managing subdomains

The advanced hosting package allows you to add subdomains to your hosting account.

Subdomains are a way of creating separate accounts within your master hosting account, which are accessed as separate URLs. For example, you could set up a "finance" subdomain on your master account "example.com", which would be accessed as "finance.example.com".

Some businesses use subdomains to establish branding and focus on separate specializations or product lines, because a subdomain creates a separate URL and web presence.

Practically, a subdomain is a sub folder within the public_http level of your account. The "finance" example above creates a new top-level folder called finance. Upload your files for the subdomain to this location, including a separate index page (such as index.html).


Addon domains

An addon domain is a domain name that that points to a subdirectory within your account. It allows you to host completely different websites at different domain names.

cPanel implements addon domains by creating a subdomain with the name of the directory within which you want to store your additional site, and then parking your additional domain name on top of that subdomain.

To create and manage addon domains, click the "Addon Domains" button in your control panel.

When adding a new addon domain, the "Username/directory/subdomain Name" field is the name of the folder underneath your public_html folder in which the web files for the new domain will be stored (just as when creating a subdomain, discussed above).

The "password" field is the password for an FTP account that will be created with access only to this new addon domain.


Further resources

The parked domains, subdomains, and addon domains sections of the cPanel manual have more information about using those features.

The hosting Getting Started Guide talks a bit about getting started with your domain.

The Hosting FAQ and hosting info page provide more information about the hosting service.

If you still have questions, please submit a support request.