The only method is the one you're using.

You'll have to contact your ISP to remove the block or change ISP's to make your site more user friendly.

Transfer your domain name to, or register e.g. www.milky.name at www.godaddy.com
They currently give you free hosting space, albeit ad-supporting.

Bind/Treewalk DNS

ok, so now my domain name is resolved to my home ip. the problem now is that I have no idea how I got it to work. I don't remember telling BIND or Treewalk my domain name or ip. what if my ip address changes? how do I update my DNS server with the new ip? and if it's as simple as telling the server that 'milkytech.com=24.45.246.83' then could I just tell the server that 'milkytech.com=24.45.246.83:1024' to get around port 80 being blocked???

Is there a database file somewhere on my computer full of domain names and ip addresses that I can edit?

maybe one of these files?

In all likelyhood when your IP changes, you'll have to manually update the A record for your domain. I've never used Treewalk so you may want to check their documentation for possible dynamic IP monitoring. The real problem you're going to face is when your IP changes, you'll need to update the "DNS" server IP listed by your Domain Registrar. This will have a propagation period of about 2 days to take effect each time. That is why I recommend getting a static IP when hosting through your own connection.

I don't believe this will work properly. Reason being that an internet browser attempts to connect on port 80 unless specifically told not to in the URL. If your domain name resolves to 24.45.246.83, then the browser automatically "appends" :80 . If the domain name resolves to 24.45.246.83:1024, it stands to reason that the browser will attempt to reach 24.45.246.83:1024:80 which shouldn't work.

That being said, I've never tried anything of that sort myself and it may work. I'd venture to guess however that if it does work, it'll only be for a select few browsers.

I've tried simulating the Name Resolution port redirect using my host file and found that name resolution actually fails. While this may not be the case for a BIND resolution, I'd venture to guess that it is.

Thank you for all your help (PanicX & RealBlackStuff). There is so much more I need to learn with no end in sight...

Hi SturmTek,

Here's a little background on web hosting in general and how to run your little website. I hope it'll help you out.

To get a website up, you need to do 3 basic things.

• Register a Domain Name

• Perform Web Design

• Get Web Hosting

1) Register a Domain Name
In the Internet, every page is located in a 'domain'. You need to register a domain name before you're official placed in the cyberspace map.

Remember that domain name registration is not the same as web site hosting. Domain name registration is usually done once and renewed yearly. Web site hosting is usually chargable once each month, half-yearly or yearly, depending on the hosting company you choose.

How do you register a domain name? Well, you need to first check that the domain name you wish to have is free to use. I usually go to www.whois.com to check the availability of the domain name.

Once you confirm that the name is available, you can go to places like DirectNIC or Register.com to purchase your domain name. Many web hosting companies also do this for you if you buy a hosting plan from them.


2) Perform Web Design
What is web design? Well, it's the process of building your web pages so that people can view and get around your web site. How do we do this? Here are the options.

• Build it yourself. If you're on a budget or wish to learn the process yourself, then try building the website on your own. You absolutely need to learn HTML. Its not difficult at all - there's no programming as such (unless you want a database driven, fancy website).
  
  Although you can build it using nothing more than Notepad, you can use great tools like Microsoft FrontPage and Macromedia Dreamweaver. They give powerful tools and extremely flexibility in designing pages.

• Engage a professional to make the web pages. The most expensive option is to get a web designer to build your web site. They will usually charge a high fee and perhaps recommend a web hosting plan to you. Usually the better web designers will interview you and find out your specific requirements before starting work.

• Get a template - this approach is getting very popular indeed. Many companies now produce web templates which give you a standard web page design - but allowing you to customize many elements of the page. Think of it as partly 'getting a professional' and partly doing it yourself.

2) Get Web Hosting
Let's consider the definition of web hosting. What is web hosting, anyway? Well, loosely defined, you can think of it as renting online space as well as online bandwidth from a company. The purpose of doing that is to publish your own web site in cyberspace so that others can see your virtual 'home'.

In general, I believe there are two main types of hosting available. Free web hosting allows you to rent online space for free - but you have to deal with advertisements like banners and such. Paid hosting is much better - there are no ads and you have better control over your site. But you do have to pay a certain fee (usually each month) to keep your site going.

There are many types of web hosting - virtual hosting, dedicated, and colocated. Don't bother about dedicated and colocated unless you are a huge business user. Usually the average person will go for virtual hosting. Your web site will be hosted along with other web sites on the web hosting companies machines.


Ok, now to answer some of your questions.

Choosing between Windows hosting and UNIX hosting depends on your needs.

If you like to go with Microsoft products and Microsoft web programming (think of Microsoft Internet Information Server, VBScript, ASP), then Windows hosting will be the one for you.

Do take note that just because your home PC is based on the Windows OS, it does not mean you should choose Windows hosting. This is a popular misconception. Remember that your web site (if virtually hosted) is on the web hosting companies server - which means you can have a Windows based home PC and a UNIX hosting package.

If you prefer UNIX or Linux, then UNIX hosting is good. It is in fact very popular with web hosting companies because it is insanely stable, free and easy to maintain (some Windows fans may beg to differ). Another point to note is that Linux hosting is usually less epxensive than Windows hosting.

If you choose virtual hosting, the web hosting company provides the PC, the IP and (nowadays) even the domain name registration. You don't need to get any hardware on your side - typically you only need a home PC with a web browser to access and maintain your website through the Internet.


Since I'm on the topic, I thought I should also highlight to you some web hosting scams which are very popular on the Net these days. You need to understand some of the tricks that web hosting companies use to get business.

• 1. Unlimited bandwidth or disk space - don't be fooled by this one. There's no such thing as unlimited.

• 2. Make sure you can the web hosting company. Some 'web hosting companies' don't like to be contacted, especially when things go wrong. Make sure you get an email address that you can use to contact the company. The better ones even have a 'ticketing' system to handle enquiries.

• 3. Watch out for long term contracts - many, many web hosts sell you an insanely cheap web hosting rate but force you to be tied to them for a full 12 months. Remember, if you rather get 3 months of web hosting, then you don't need to sign up for a full year, even if its cheaper.

• 4. Money Back Guarantee is also important - a good web hosting company will not hesitate to refund your money if you're not satisfied. You should also be able to cancel your subscription at any time.

Whew! Long post. Anyway, I do hope it helps you out, SturmTek. Do feel free to let me know if you need any more advice. :slurp:

Dude, Gary, I hope you didn't spend too much time on that. Sturmtek asked those questions over a year ago. I recently added on to an old thread because I was researching for answers to my questions before posting a new thread (like a good boy) when I came across this thread which was a similar topic but didn't answer my questions, so I decided to post here.

So, if you read on in the thread you will see that I was well taken care of by my boys PanicX and RealBlackStuff

Website is up and running on my home pc. The solution was so simple. We all overthought the whole thing.
I used the website forwarding feature of my godaddy account and forwarded milkytech.com to milkytech.homeftp.net:1024, then set it to be masked so you don't really know its forwarded.
Very simple way around port 80 block.