by Leona Velez

Beware! There are some things to watch out for when selecting your domain name. The domain landscape is incredibly crowded. There are over one million domains registered daily (there were 1,263,695 domains registered on 8 Jun 07 according to Domain Tools). The good news is that domains drop, expire, and come back into circulation. You can also still come up with some great names. The bad news is that there is a segment of the domain industry that is more than willing to snatch your domain idea if you take one misstep.

One of the most popular ways to search for the availability of a domain is to type the name directly into a registrar like GoDaddy.com. It makes sense to check there, because if you confirm the availability, then you can simply register the name right then and there. If you do this, there is absolutely no problem. However, and this is a huge however, if you decide to wait and think on it, you run the risk of losing this name to a domain squatter. In fact I can almost guarantee if you have even a remotely useful domain name, it will be gone. Domain squatters are doing absolutely nothing illegal. They are simply staking a claim of internet real estate albeit with a little inside knowledge garnered from your seemingly innocuous search. Instead of paying $6.95 and some change for that great domain, you’ll be faced with a request for $500 and up depending on how desirable the domain is.

Here are some ways to prevent this. First and foremost, if you even begin to consider looking up domains names, and I don’t care where you look it up, have a credit card in hand and pull the trigger! Buy the name right then and there. If you decide not to develop it, you can sell the domain, park the domain for future use, or let it drop back into circulation losing only the initial $6.95 investment.

Second, if you aren’t ready to buy the domain and prefer to search and mull it over, then do not use a registrar like GoDaddy to search for domains. Using the GoDaddy search option, I lost FossilCreek.com and Webistics.com literally the day after I looked them up. I naively thought it was a freak coincidence. I have since been educated.

It is also important to note that GoDaddy is doing nothing wrong. Their search mechanisms often place previously searched names in the domain suggestion fields on future searches. They just do what they do best, and that is sell a whole bunch of domain names for a low cost. A lot of domaineers use Moniker.com to do domain availability searches and swear by the authenticity and security of Moniker. I haven’t personally used this site, but it has been recommended to me by several different esteemed sources. Again, the best policy is to register the domain if you even remotely like the domain.

In closing it is a real drag to come up with a great domain just to lose it the very next day. When I came up with the name www.infoaces.com, I had two credit cards in hand with my registrar account information all ready to go. I for sure was not going to lose this one. I don’t know what happened to the FossilCreek website, but I followed up on the Webistics domain name and learned that it sold for $100. Thankfully, it wasn’t thousands of dollars, but it’s still $93.05 that could have gone to my pizza and Diet-Pepsi fund! If you have any questions, tips, or suggestions, please feel free to email me. I enjoy the feedback, and I especially like the success stories. Leona. www.infoaces.com

About the AuthorLeona started her home based transcription business, www.infoaces.com, in August 2006. She served in the US Air Force and was awarded a commendation medal for her time during Desert Storm. She has two teenage kids and lives in sunny Arizona.

[tags]domain, hosting, domain name, searching domain, domain tools, godaddy, domain squatter, domain hijack, domaineers, moniker, domain availability[/tags]

by Abdul Vasi

Virtual hosting is a method which enables servers to host more than one domain name on the same computer, sometimes on the same IP (internet protocol) address. Simply put, one will possess his own identity, but he will not be required to maintain the equipment in the case of virtual web hosting.

Usually, there are two methods of accomplishing virtual hosting. The first one is name-based and the other one is IP-based. Name-based virtual hosts actually use multiple host names for the same web-server IP address. With browsers that support HTTP, upon connecting to a web-server, the browser sends the address that the client typed into the browser’s URL bar. The server is able to use this information to determine which website/page to show to the client. In the latter (IP address based), each site points to a unique IP address and the web server is configured with multiple physical network interfaces which can also obtain the address the TPC connection was aimed for using a standard API. There are no compatibility issues as the client is not involved in this process.

It becomes much harder to access a virtually hosted website if the DNS (Domain Name System) does not function properly. Normally in this case, the user could try and fall back to using the IP address to contact the system but the web browser does not know what host name to send when this occurs. Hence, the server is most likely to respond with a default website, often not the anticipated site of the user. It is not that useful for an average web user but may be beneficial to a site administrator while fixing DNS records. Adding the IP address and host name to the client system’s host file is a good thing to do in this case. At this point, accessing the server with the domain name is most likely to work again. The users, however, should be careful as any changes made to the true mapping between IP address and host name will be overridden by the local setting. Another problem with this kind of hosting is the inability to host more than one secure websites running SSL (Secure Sockets Layer). Running IP aliasing or multiple web server programs is a pretty good way to handle this issue.

Virtual web hosting is commonly used in a greater magnitude in companies whose business model is to provide economical website hosting for customers. A big chunk of such web hosting service websites are hosted on shared servers using virtual hosting technology. Some businesses make optimum use of this technology by keeping different intranets and extranets separate from each other for internal security reasons.

Online virtual hosting packages are very common these days which offer a professional look for personal and small business websites. Usually, the monthly charges of these virtual hosting accounts range from fifteen to thirteen dollars. Additional fees are charged with the inclusion of advanced features such as SSL functionality or database software.
About the Author

Abdul Vasi is a Marketing Expert specialized in Internet Marketing, His Web hosting India Company Hostcats provides you with reliable but affordable web hosting solution for your online business.

Web Hosting: Virtual hosting

[tags]virtual hosting, web hosting, internet marketing, internet protocol, IP, DNS, domain name system, IP address, HTTP, API, SSL[/tags]