Domain names, registering and servers

[davway]

Is there any one 'official/recognised' place to register a domain name?

Ive had a Google and there seem to be heaps of different places and varying prices too.

not really up to scratch with web hosting but im thinking about giving it a shot but dont really know where to start and what official channels i should take.

Obviously i have an idea of the website but i dont really know about registering the name, software or servers etc.

if any one knows anything about how a server works/running a server/server providers etc etc, id like to hear about it.

[davway]

ok so no help then.

a few other questions that someone might know:

.com vs .com.au - any benefit to either?
if i have a .com.au, do i need to be a registered business or entity (ACN/ABN number).
If i register a domain name through an international site, is this going to lead to problems down the track - say if the name is registered with a overseas company but i want to host from this country or doesnt it matter at all?

any help at all from any one thats started a forum from scratch would be helpful.

BTW - being a Toyota forum, it wont be in competition at all with this site.

Just want start up the right way and not do things arse about, having to stuff around later to do what should have been done from the start.

[azkwazere]

cant register a .au site without an ABN.

Stick with an aussie address if you can, just makes it neater...

Are you planning on doing your own hosting or paying someone else to do it?

You will need to register your domain name with someone, depends on whether or not you plan to host it yourself or not.

aZk.

[JimmyMcDuff]

I run my own site. I pay (monthly) a web host to host my site for me and yearly a domain registration fee. I then tell my domain registrar where my site is and they link my domain name to my site.

You can also look for a domain/hosting package where you can sometimes get a free domain name (for at least a year) as well as your hosting.

Keep us updated!

[danja]

auDA administer the .au domain ( auDA ) Actual registration is delegated out to authorised registrars. If you use an accredited registrar you can't really go wrong.

Technically .com.au and .net.au are supposed to be restricted to businesses, but in practice there isn't much auditing of this. If you want to know the policies: auDA > auDA Published Policies > Domain Name Eligibility and Allocation Policy Rules for the Open 2LDs (2008-05)

You can try and get registration overseas, but it may be harder to find someone overseas who does .au registrations.

In terms of .com versus .com.au, it's a marketing thing as much as anything. If people see ".au" they immediately know it's Australian and if that is your target audience, they will probably respond favourably to that. If you want to attract a more international audience, .com might be the one for you. You can of course have both, though it's a slightly more complicated scenario to administer and I wouldn't recommend it till you've established yourself.

As for future proofing/getting it right to begin with, it's not hugely difficult to migrate from .com to .com.au (or visa versa) down the track unless you have a hugely convoluted setup (which by the sounds of it you won't). Also bear in mind that your domain name can point to any host, meaning if you change hosting providers down the track, you just update the domain to direct traffic to your new host.

[davway]

Well there certainly is a lot more to it than first appears at the surface.
the more i research, the more i need to learn about the whole lot.

Still havent decided on the .com vs .com.au scenario either.
.com is easier and cheaper and the .au is more local but not easy to obtain (legit).
an ABN is pretty much out of the equation since i dont fit the criteria and dont want the fine for falsely having a number.
thats all just one thing to consider.

Hosting - well, where do i start?
theres that many out there and 90% of them look about as trustworthy as Clints Crazy Bargains.
id ideally like to host myself and have my own server but the brief research i did on that throws it way out of my league.
An Aussie host is the only option - easier to deal with than having to contact and deal with another country should something go wrong.

then theres the platform - looking a vBulletin primarily, simple, effective, professional and has back up but after some reading, there are a lot better free (or near free) platforms out there.
this is probably one of those things i should follow my gut on and go with what i originally wanted to use.

Then theres the most important part of it - users.
getting a forum up and active is probably going to be the hardest part.
i dont mind laying out the expense of set up but i dont want to go through all the effort if no one is going to use it.

like i said, theres a lot more to it than it first seems.