Web Hosting HOWTO

Web Hosting is a service for your registered domain name. If you have not done so already, please register your domain name (example.com). By far setup is easiest if you registered your domain name with TZO: because TZO will automatically configure your domain's Authoritative Nameservers to point to TZODNS nameservers, and TZO will take care of configuring DNS.

If you registered your domain name at a third party Registrar, you must edit your Domain Registration (WHOIS) and set the AUthoritative Nameservers to point to TZO. Before making any Nameserver changes, understand that this step involves moving your DNS away from your current provider (your Registrar) meaning they will no longer serve your DNS records. If the entirety of your Registrar's DNS service was hosting the WWW site record then this change is probably OK, but if you had a more complex DNS structure be sure you understand the impact.

Alternatively, you can use your existing DNS provider and manually create the DNS A records for the domain root (your zon's A record) and "www.". The value of the A record should be set to the IP address found in your TZO Order email details.

If you are not sure about something please contact TZO Support.If you are not sure about something please contact TZO Support.

FTPing to your server is simple. In your FTP client, add a new Bookmark or link, and depending on your FTP software it will ask for a Target Address or Connection Address - the value here is the website IP address specified in the Webhosting order email. The webhosting login will be the username and password you requested.

The suggested FTP client is FileZilla, a free and open source FTP client for Windows Mac and Linux. You may use another FTP client if you understand how it's settings work and where to edit things. Alternatively in the webhosting cPanel there is a webbrowser based FTP client to provide basic FTP client services.

The preferred method for testing your website is using your domain name (www.example.com). You should see content for the website you uploaded. If this works you are all done basic testing, and you can continue developing and uploading your website.

If the website fails to load or display, you may need to investigate or troubleshoot. You can try pinging (or nslookup) on your domain name to prove that the website domain goes to the specified IP address, and if it does you can focus your testing on what it is you uploaded (is it a silent PHP error for example?). When in doubt, remove all your web content and upload a simple 'index.html' file which simply contains the contents 'hello from [www.example.com]' and if that works it demonstrates DNS and your webhosting are OK, so you can then focus your testing or configuration on your website scripts.

Alternatively you can run a simple test to http:// plus your website's IP address plus your webhosting username, for example: http://1.1.1.1/~username/ -- but please note this type is limited. Some PHP scripts and CMS software will not function correctly without the domain name in the URL, but calling your website this way may sometimes uncover a clue as to whatever problem exists.

Sometimes you want to bypass whatever values are in public DNS, and connect to your website for testing, but you already know that the IP-based URL will not work with your website software. One reason for doing this is if your website is already hosted elsewhere and you are switching to TZO for webhosting. Another reason might be that you just changed your domain's Authoritative Nameservers, and you are encountering that delay where not all networks have your new nameserver values yet. There is a way to override public DNS and it is called the 'hosts' file.

Your OS should already contain a 'hosts' file somewhere in your 'system' folders on your hard drive. For example in Windows 7 it is located at

C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc

. You will need your system's Administrator password to edit the hosts file. A pair of examples follow:

example.com    1.1.1.1
www.example.com    1.1.1.1

Just be aware that a hosts file entry will override DNS, and some website tests may not be accurate. The hosts file only works for your machine which contains the hosts file override. If you are not confident making a system-level change such as the host file, obtain local help for this or do not attempt this change. You should remove the webhosting hosts file entry as soon as it is no longer needed, because the hosts file will mask how DNS is working in the real world.