Ubuntu server - How to make a domain point to it

Question

I have a domain registered on Namecheap that I've used long ago, but my question is, how do I make that domain point to my ubuntu server, running on an old laptop at my house?

Answer 1

There are a few things you need to do:

1) Make sure traffic can come in to your network to your server (port forwarding)

2) Determine if you're using a IP or Dynamic DNS option to point traffic to your server

3) Set an A record to resolve traffic from your domain to your IP.

Were I you, I would do this in the the following order. Determine whether or not you have a static IP (This is determined by your ISP). If so, find out what it is. If not, use your dynamically assigned IP (usually good for a few weeks at the shortest and can stay for a long time) and later you can look in to Dynamic DNS services.

Assuming you have a static IP go to your domain registrar (namecheap) and look at how to create an "A record" - this just lets you put YOUR IP as the routing target for www.yourdomain.com They should have some samples you can look at.

You can also do this if you do not have a static IP (go to whatismyip.com or similar site to determine what your IP is currently. You will need to go to namecheap and change this whenever it updates.)

After you've done this, log in to your modem/router and look for a firewall/security section called 'Port forwarding' This is where you specify a port (if you're hosting a web server, it'll be 80 or 443 most likely) and the target internal PC - you need your local IP address, you can get this by checking ifconfig on your server.

That should be it!

Here are some extra resources:

For port forwarding: http://portforward.com/help/portforwarding.htm

For A Records: https://www.namecheap.com/support/knowledgebase/article.aspx/319/78/how-can-i-set-up-an-a-address-record-for-my-domain (note that the location the IPs are in that image is where you will put your public static IP address)