Hey, I'm trying to host a web site from my windows xp pro machine.  I
run iis, and i can access my page by typing "ip address/sitename". 
Now i want to have an actual domain name point to that location, but i
don't understand how it works.  I purchased the name, and the site
that hosts it let me tell them where their dns should point.  I put in
my computer's ip address.   My question... How does it know based on
my computer's ip address, which web site to open? i have many websites
created on my computer.  Do i need to run an extra dns on my comp to
specify the correct folder??? please help. i just need a few sentence
answer that gets me up and running

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Request for Question Clarification by leapinglizard-ga on 19 Sep 2004 16:30 PDT

You could, in theory, run your own DNS server, but that's a pretty
serious business requiring a stable system and advanced know-how. The
alternative is to subscribe to a DNS service. I happen to have an
account with dyndns.org, whom I have paid for custom DNS hosting of
two domain names that I point to the web server running on my home
computer. I have a number of other domain names as well, but they
point to remote websites of mine that are served by a professional
webhosting firm. This webhost, like most webhosts, automatically
provides DNS for domain names of websites that I pay them to host.

But if you're hosting a website yourself and you can't run your own
DNS server for practical reasons, you should get a DNS account
somewhere. Try searching for "dns service" and similar phrases to see
what's available. Most DNS firms charge you an annual fee if you want
them to service a hostname that you provide yourself. If you're
willing to use a subdomain of one of the DNS firm's own domains, such
as foobar.dyndns.org, the service is typically free.

DynDNS: Dynamic DNS -- How To
http://www.dyndns.org/services/dyndns/howto.html

Finally, there are services that will supposedly offer custom DNS
hosting, for a domain name of your choice, for free. I don't know
whether this is entirely true or just how good such a service could
be, but you might want to give it a shot. For example, there's this
outfit called The Public DNS Service.

The Public DNS Service
http://soa.granitecanyon.com/

I'm sorry to be so short on detail, but I don't know which avenue
you're going to choose, so I can't tell you exactly what steps you'll
have to take. Do you consider this an adequate answer anyway?

leapinglizard

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Clarification of Question by thelameduck-ga on 19 Sep 2004 20:34 PDT

Thanks for your prompt response.  I have one question left before I'll
happily except your answer.  the site i registered with lets me
specify an IP that the name should point to.  As i understand, that is
a DNS server.

--Are you saying that i need to subscribe to a second one in order to
be able to specify which folder on my Comp has the web site?

--I don't expect explanation of how this works, just can i specify
where on my HD the web site is, with the basics DNS service that
www.register.com provides, or do i need to subscribe to dyndns.org/run
my own dns?

If you can answer that, that would be a complete answer.  Thank you very much

Dear thelameduck,

Indeed, your domain-name registrar wants to know the addresses of two
or three DNS servers. You cannot provide the IP address of your own
computer, because you are not running a DNS service, and you probably
don't want to. Furthermore, if your registrar is anything like mine,
the DNS servers that they provide for free will only point to a small,
formulaic web page on their site that says something like, "This
domain name has been registered with ABC!" You should try setting the
DNS server names to whatever they provide by default, and later
entering your domain name in a web browser. If you see a parked page,
then that's probably all you're going to get.

So if you want a DNS service that points to your own computer at home,
and especially if, like most home users, your Internet Service
Provider (ISP) periodically allocates you a new IP from a large pool
-- this is called dynamic IP allocation -- then the registrar's
parking DNS is no good to you. You'll want to sign up with a
full-service DNS host in this case.

Once you've subscribed to a DNS host, you will report the names of
their servers to your registrar, and within a few days, the mapping of
domain name to IP number will be fully under your control. What you'll
want to do then is to install a small utility program on your
computer, which the DNS hosting service again provides to you. You can
arrange it so that whenever your ISP changes your computer's IP
address, the utility calls up your DNS host, who can then inform the
Internet at large of the new name->number mapping. The result is that
all web queries for your domain name go straight to your computer.

From what you tell me, your web server already knows where on your
hard drive the website files are stored. The DNS service doesn't have
anything to do with this, since its sole purpose is to translate a
domain name into an IP number. In a nutshell, no, you can't just enter
your IP address into the registrar's DNS form, and no, the DNS service
doesn't care about the physical location of your files, which is
strictly the web server's business.

Before you start comparison shopping, I recommend that you try out one
of the free domain names supplied by the full-service DNS firms, such
as *.dyndns.org and so forth. Taking this route will make some of the
DNS configuration simpler, but it will let you fully test your web
server and web pages. Once you're sure that everything is working, you
can graduate to a fully custom subscription that lets you specify your
own domain name.

I hope this fully answers your question. If not, let me know what
further information I can supply.

Regards,

leapinglizard

Thank you so much.  You really set me straight on whats going on, and
gave my way more than I expected.

Thank you for the kind words and the generous tip.

leapinglizard