Overview

When you go to a website you are able to view the contents of the files hosted on that "domain" or web address. If you go to yvod.com you have to potential to see files we are serving from that domain. Most businesses have their own domain and can then serve any information they desire from it.

In order to own your own domain you must "register" it with a domain authority. These authorities control a database of all registered domains around the world. Once you are in that database, any browser can find your domain by checking these domain databases. The actual service is called a Domain Name Server (DNS) and every website that can be viewed on the web must be registered with the main DNS databases.

How do you register for a domain?

The first thing to realize is that all domains are unique. If someone owns apple.com, no one else can own it. So the first thing you must do is find a name that is not owned by someone else. (Alternatively, you can buy a name from someone who already owns it - it is simply a business asset and can be sold as such. FYI a single name was bought in January '00 for $15 million (america.com) - crazy!)

The second thing you must do is buy the domain name. Currently you must purchase a name for two years. After the two years are up you are billed in one-year increments. Each year costs $35 so to reserve a name you must pay a domain authority $70 (for the first two years). After that, you own the name until you sell it or abandon the name through non-payment.

How do I register a domain name?

Step 1) http://www.networksolutions.com/ Go here and search for the name you desire. Find a name you wish to purchase and continue with the steps presented.

Step 2) "ISP-hosted Web Address" This is the type of account you are interested in. ISP = Internet Service Provider (that's us). It means that someone will host your account for you and you know who that organization is. (Alternatively, you can have it hosted by networksolutions (they charge a fee))

Step 3) "DNS Information" This is the nitty-gritty "geek-talk" for "who is hosting your site?" (They really should make this easier.) PLEASE be careful here. It is VERY important that you put our information in the right place and YOUR information in the right place. We do NOT own your site. We do NOT handle the billing for your site. And there in lies the rub. Most ISP's charge to host a website and so most people think "my ISP billing info is..." and fill in the form thinking networksolutions is interested in that. THEY ARE NOT!!! Billing information pertains to THE PERSON OR COMPANY WHO OWNS THE DOMAIN!!! Please, do not get this wrong. This is the ONLY confusing part of the whole process. Your personal information goes in BILLING. OUR information goes in administrative and technical sections.

Click the option that says "I have the information outlined above and am ready to proceed with registration at a cost of $70 for 2 years per Web Address. "

Step 4) Put in your personal info.

Step 5) Put in OUR info.

Administrative Contact: ML5598 Technical Contact: ML5598 Billing Contact: (leave blank)

Because you are a new customer you do not yet have a contact code. Proceed down the page and fill in your personal info.

Step 6) Fill in the "geek" stuff.

HOSTNAME IP ADDRESS

Primary Server: SHARKY.COMPREHEND.COM 192.190.48.25

Secondary Server: WEBFOOT.COMPREHEND.COM 192.190.48.11

Step 7) Review your fine work.

Step 8) Put in your credit card info.

Step 9) There is no step 9!!!! :-)

You are now the proud owner of your very own web domain hosted by yvod.com (and its hosting division comprehend.com). You need to email us and let us know that you have signed up so that we can create a webspace and configure our servers to show your site.

Please be aware: if we have approved your actions before hand, yvod does not charge for "parking" a website on our servers. We DO charge for actually HOSTING the site. If you actually want to use the site (ie: serve webpages on it) you need to sign a contract with yvod for that service. Parking is used to reserve a domain name so that no one else can buy it. Please notify us immediately if you plan to park more than one domain on our servers.

We also STRONGLY suggest that you print out the final purchase screen and save it for your records.

---

Final Thoughts

YVOD is not doing any spectacular favors here. You can park as many names as you wish at the following sites. Please take a look if you are interested.

http://www.freedomainreservation.com/
http://www.yournamefree.com/

Additional info:

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN .COM, .ORG, AND .NET?

World Wide Generic Domains: InterNIC definitions

It was suggested that .COM be used primarily for commercial businesses, .NET for network related organizations and .ORG for nonprofit groups.

Network Solutions (NSI) originally tried to follow these guidelines as closely as possible. This required manual processing of all requests to identify the type of organization requesting each name. This worked fine when the registration request volume was small, but it became an operational and customer service problem as requests began to rapidly increase. This first happened in the .COM TLD and later in the .NET and .ORG TLDs.

The manual process not only resulted in slow customer service, but also created several other problems. Registrants, who were dishonest in describing their organization type, were rewarded with a registration while those who honestly reported their type of organization were denied if they did not meet RFC 1591 guidelines. Also, it became increasingly difficult to clearly define what a network or nonprofit organization was. The definition of Internet Service Provider (ISP), which was initially one category that qualified a company for a .NET name, became increasingly blurred. And the definition of nonprofit was complicated by the international nature of the Internet. Moreover, to implement processes to reliably validate organization types would have been extremely costly and still not fool proof.

Consequently, in the case of .COM, .NET and .ORG, a decision was made to rely on registrants to choose the TLD they wish. So NSI does not presently screen applications for organization type in the .COM, .NET or .ORG TLDs. In fact, many registrants order their domain name as .COM, .NET and .ORG.

WHAT ARE THE GUIDELINES FOR .EDU?

The .EDU domain is reserved for 4-year, degree-granting colleges and universities. Each college or university may register only one .EDU domain name. Graduate programs, remote campuses, etc., cannot obtain a .EDU domain name of their own.

If the organization that is registering the domain meets this criterion, they must provide a brief explanation of the kinds of degrees awarded before a .EDU can be considered.