This setup is required to get the DNS queries for our domain to reach the DNS servers at zoneedit for name resolution.

Log-in to your 1 & 1 control panel. Click on the package link. Click on the manage domain option.

Select the domain name (check mark) and then click on the down arrow next to DNS and select “Edit DNS settings”. Set the general settings to DNS under domain data. For basic DNS settings, select “My name server”. In the advanced DNS settings type one of the name of the DNS server provided by zoneedit from our previous step in the primary name server option. Select “My secondary name server” for secondary name server option. Now enter the name of second DNS server name provided by zoneedit in the 1st secondary name server box. Leave 2nd and 3rd secondary name server names blank.

Click OK. It will take a while to propagate this setting. We will continue with other settings while this is being updated. When the update is complete, the status will show as ready in the domain overview page of the administration tab.

Computers on the Internet connect to each other using IP address. For someone else’s computer to connect to your server, that computer need to know the IP address of your server. Your domain name is usually associated with one IP address and that IP address can be the IP address of your server. DNS servers keep the information of what is the IP address of a domain name. Usually domain registrar allows you to specify a different DNS server than their own DNS server for your domain name.

We will use zoneedit as our DNS service. As of this writing, it is free for the first 5 domains. Signup here for free. Make sure to read and understand the terms and conditions.

Setup for one domain is called a zone at zoneedit. Log-in and add a zone. Once you add zone with your domain name, zoneedit will give you two name servers and their IP addresses. 1 & 1 accepts only the names. So, note them down. Use a password with upper and lower case letters and a few numbers in between. Avoid special characters because we will be using this password to update the information dynamically. Note down the password.

Click on the name of the zone (domain name). Click on Aliases (CNAME). In the box titled “Alias” type “www” and the box titled “Actual Name” type your domain name. The whole line should read like www is another name for your-domain-name. Click the “Add New Alias” button to create the alias. This will help others access our server by typing http://www.your-domain.ext.

If you have a static IP address, go ahead and specify the IP address under IP Addresses (A). If not we are ready for updating the IP address dynamically when ready with server setup.

I use 1 & 1 as my domain registrar for this website. One of the reasons why I use 1 & 1 is, they have free private registrations. This means that you can buy a domain name without exposing your personal information like name, address, phone number etc. Depending on what type of website you are planning to create, you may want to keep your registration private. For example, some people blog about their work without telling who they are.

Let us say you want a domain with your name your-name.com. You can check the availablity of the domain name here.

The check comes back with available domain names and suggestions. Choose one or search more. When ready click continue which gives you the purchase options.

Since we are planning to host our site from home, select the Instant Domain option which costs only the yearly registration fee. That fee depends on the extension you selected. Lowest is $8.99 but first year may be cheaper.

Once you sign-up and pay, the domain name is yours for the period of registration. If you do not want to loose the domain name because you forgot to renew, you can setup automatic renewal. You get renewal notices from 1 & 1 by email as well.

It can take up to 48 hours before you can start using the domain name. But in the mean time you can start working on other steps.

A good broadband Internet connection is needed for serving a web site to your users and give them an acceptable experience. Get the best upload speed that fits your budget. I use Comcast cable. Cable broadband is not known for good upload speeds but good enough to get us going. It is easier to upgrade your connection speeds without disturbing the setup, choose what you feel is affordable. I prefer a DSL connection with static IP address.

Try not to connect your server or other computers directly to the modem provided by your ISP. Avoid routers from ISP. Use a stand alone router. This way, if you switch ISP, you will still have your settings intact. You can get wireless routers as cheap as $20.

Refer to your router manual for how to setup your router to establish an Internet connection and to setup a network. Once your router is ready with Internet connection, connect your server to the router. Connect using an Ethernet cable instead of a wireless connection.

I am going to assume that you have a D-Link router and it has an IP address 192.168.0.1

I am going to assume that we will setup the Linux server with a static IP address: 192.168.0.50

Connect your computer (not the server) to the router using an Ethernet cable. If you do not have extra Ethernet cable, just pull it from the server and connect to the computer that will be used for configuring the router. At this point the router need not be connected to modem or the Linux server.

Open a browser and type in the address http://192.168.0.1

When prompted, enter the user name as admin and the password. If you haven’t changed it yet, the default is blank (no password).

Click on the SETUP on top and then click NETWORK SETTINGS on the left. Enable DHCP server and provide IP address range. See the image below for complete settings. Don’t forget to click “Save Settings” before clicking other buttons or links on the page.

Setup the virtual server so that web server traffic always goes to our server at 192.168.0.50. Click on ADVANCED and then VIRTUAL SERVER. See image below for values. On older D-Link routers you may have only port forwarding option. I think that option doesn’t allow you forward the WAN port to different port on LAN. But that should work for our setup since we are not going forward to a different port on LAN. Don’t forget to click “Save Settings” before clicking other buttons or links on the page.

At this point the router is ready to send web traffic to our server.