Pointing your domain to your website

Gandi provides you with three ways to make your website available via your domain name. Before you can set up your domain so that it sends users to your website, you need to choose which configuration applies to you.

1. Using web forwarding

  • When to use? For traditional web forwarding (ex. to a preexisting website, hosted on another page. This is commonly used to forward a domain to a blog or other free personal page that is already hosted at a given address.)
  • Advantage: easy to use. All Gandi's domains come pre-configured for this, and it does not contain any sort of banner or pop-up ads
  • Disadvantage: This will give poor search-engine ranking for the domain name. Also, if you use transparent forwarding, the URL will not change to show the path in your website.

2. Using the DNS of your web host

  • When to use? This is the classic configuration for hosted websites. For linking your domain to a server thus allowing you to send and receive e-mails from your domain name, and conventional website use.
  • Advantage: easy to update. Your host configures your DNS for you.
  • Disadvantage: your web host controls the configuration of your DNS. If there is a problem with your site being off-line etc. you need to contact your web host.

3. Configuring your zone file at Gandi

  • When to use? If your host gives you an IP address for your HTTP server (or if you host it yourself using Gandi's hosting), or tells you to make a particular “A”, “MX”, or “CNAME” (etc.) record in your zone file.
  • Advantage: highly configurable and flexible, and may be managed via your domain's control panel at Gandi.
  • Disadvantage: for experienced users. Syntax errors will cause your domain name “not to work”, both for e-mails or for your website.

Last modified: 01/18/2013 at 12:01 by Ryan A. (Gandi)