Getting Started
This document provides information about domain names, editing HTML, and accessing the web hosting control panel. It serves as a basic introduction to web hosting and is intended for beginners. Experienced users may skip this page, except for the section entitled Accessing the Control Panel for the First Time.
Click on each section in the side menu that you want to learn more about.
Registering a Domain
Domains are a unique way to identify yourself on the Internet. There are two parts to a domain: the name and the extension. The name is the description of yourself or your site (for example, the name “dogfood” in dogfood.com). The extension represents the domain category. For example, the .com extension means “commercial,” .net means “network,” and so on. There are many extensions available today: .biz (business), .info (resource sites), .us (American sites), .ca (Canadian sites), to name a few. The “www” is automatically inserted by the web server that hosts your site and is not part of the domain name.
You cannot use a domain name until you register it. In addition, you cannot register a domain name that is owned by someone else. The registration process is fairly simple:
- Decide on a domain name and extension.
- Select a registrar and register your domain name.
- Find a host for your domain name.
Deciding on a domain name and extension is difficult because most names are already taken, especially with the .com extension. Our domain search tool may offer some suggestions if the name you’re searching for is unavailable. Domain names are leased, and the registration fee represents the cost for one year of ownership. Depending on the domain extension, you can register domains for up to 10 years.
Once you have purchased a domain name you will need somewhere to host it. The domain name is just an address; that is, it points to files on a web server. Hosting companies provide web servers and this is where your web site is stored.
We will be happy to assist you in the domain registration process and ensure that everything is configured properly to host your website with us.
Transferring a Domain
Transferring a domain can mean two things: switching the domain name to another registrar (i.e. transferring the registration to Empire State Hosting) or altering the domain record to make the domain point to a new host. For the purposes of web hosting we are concerned with the second definition. A domain has to be told which web host to direct visitors to, and this is done by changing the domain’s name server (DNS) records.
For example, if you purchase a hosting account at Empire State Hosting you will get a message telling you to put our name servers in your domain record. These name servers might look like:
ns3.empirestatehosting.net
ns4.empirestatehosting.net
You will then visit your domain registrar’s home page, sign in, and edit your domain record. Each registrar is different, but there will be fields in your domain record called “name severs,” “primary/secondary name servers,” etc. The registrar may or may not ask for the IP address of the name servers. If you domain is registered at Empire State Hosting, you can accomplish this with 1 click from your management page. It takes 12-48 hours for the change to take effect.
Editing HTML
HTML, or hypertext markup language, is the language that tells web browsers how to display a page. For example, to bold text in HTML, you would surround the text with the following tags.
<strong>bold text</strong>
Anything between the strong tags will appear bold (visitors will not see the opening and closing tags.) When someone visits www.yourdomain.com, they are actually accessing the index.html file in your main web site directory. A full HTML tutorial is outside the scope of this document, you can find out more about HTML at the World Wide Web Consortium’s website.
Editing HTML requires software specifically designed for the task. An examples would be Adobe Dreamweaver. There are also shareware and freeware HTML editors available from popular download sites such as download.com.
Even the best HTML editing software can be confusing for beginners. If you fall into this category, we suggest using an online content management system (CMS). A content management system provides an online interface for creating and editing the pages of your website. Empire State Hosting’s control panel includes Installatron, a tool which can install many of the leading open source CMS scripts with just a few clicks of the mouse.
Empire State Hosting also offers complete website design and maintenance packages if you would prefer to have your website created by professionals.
Accessing the Control Panel for the First Time
There are a few ways to access the control panel:
https://YourHostingServer.empirestatehosting.net:2222 You will be emailed this url to the control panel with the name of your hosting server when your hosting account is created. This is the preffered method.
http://www.yourdomain.com:2222 You can access the control panel by adding :2222 to your domain or subdomain address. If you use this method however, you will get a security warning in your browser. This is because the control panel is secured with an SSL certificate which contains the hosting server name - since you’re accessing it with a different domain name (your own domain) you will receive the warning. It is ok to disregard this warning if you would prefer to access your control panel using your own domain url.
http://192.168.0.1:2222 You can also access the control panel through an IP address allocated to the server. This method will also show a certificate warning in the browser for the same reason mentioned above.
A login window (similar to the one pictured on the right) will appear. Enter the username and password you received in your email after having purchased the hosting service. Once signed into the control panel you should do two things.
First, click on the “messages waiting” link at the top-left of the page. Important messages about your account may come through the message system, so we recommend that you confirm that your e-mail address is correctly entered at the bottom of the screen and the checkbox is checked. If you do this, the control panel will e-mail you when a message comes in.
Second, return to the main menu by clicking the home link in the top menu and then click on the “Site Summary/ Statistics / Logs” icon towards the bottom of the page. About halfway down the screen there will be a box to enter your e-mail address. Confirm that the e-mail address in the box is accurate. If not, change it and click on the “Save” button. It is important to have a valid e-mail address in this box because the control panel will e-mail you whenever your account is close to going over its bandwidth limit.
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