Below10host(newbie questions)

[WorldWarGeneral]

I'm considering taking the plunge into paid hosting because finding a good free host is getting harder and harder. After browsing around, I'm interested in "below10host" But I have some questions:

1.) I assume they offer domain hosting. In their faq, they say to sign up for an account, and then change the dns settings with your registar to their nameservers. Now, I'm currently using mydomain.com's cloaked domain redirection to redirect my domain to my site. With this service, "worldwarhistory.com" always stays in the address bar, no matter what page on the site you're at. (ie, you're at the biography section, but instead of seeing "worldwarhistory.com/biographies.html", you still see "worldwarhistory.com" My question is, after I change the nameservers with my registar to the below10host nameservers, will the address in the address bar relflect what page the visitor is at?(worldwarhistory.com/biographies.html) Will I still need to use mydomain.com?

2.) All plans offer POP accounts. Are these accounts the same as you would get with your ISP? Do they work the same?

3.) Do the e-mail aliases they offer work the same as the aliases you get with mydomain?

4.) What are the protected directories? What are they for?

5.) What's the difference between FTP and Anonymous FTP?

6.) What are subdomains and what are they for?

7.) They offer preinstalled CGI. Does that mean you can't upload your own CGI stuff? Or install things like Ikonboard?

8.) What's formmail? What's it for?

9.) What are the autoresponders for?

I know a lot of these questions are probably elementary, but I have never really looked at paid hosting before, and most of the free plans don't offer stuff like what below10 seems to offer.

Thanks for any help!

[niv]

Originally posted by WorldWarGeneral
1.) ...My question is, after I change the nameservers with my registar to the below10host nameservers, will the address in the address bar relflect what page the visitor is at?(worldwarhistory.com/biographies.html) Will I still need to use mydomain.com?


1.) Of course not! :p


Originally posted by WorldWarGeneral
2.) All plans offer POP accounts. Are these accounts the same as you would get with your ISP? Do they work the same?


2.) Yep.


Originally posted by WorldWarGeneral
3.) Do the e-mail aliases they offer work the same as the aliases you get with mydomain?


3.) Yep.


Originally posted by WorldWarGeneral
4.) What are the protected directories? What are they for?


4.) You answered the question yourself. To protect directories with vital information (or if they contain admin scripts)


Originally posted by WorldWarGeneral
5.) What's the difference between FTP and Anonymous FTP?


5.) "Regular" "FTP" requires a username and password to get into directories where you can store files. Anonymous FTP goes to the public directory where the webmaster can distribute files. Anonymous users can download, and in some instances upload (usu. the upload feature is turned off)


Originally posted by WorldWarGeneral
6.) What are subdomains and what are they for?


6.) Subdomains are virtually hosted in your account and if you create a subdomain labeled "test", it will be test.worldwarhistory.com, and below10host may make it a directory in your account off the main one (i.e. worldwarhistory.com/test). note that if you use /index.html as a link on test.worldwarhistory.com, it will go to, you guessed it! test.worldwarhistory.com/index.html!


Originally posted by WorldWarGeneral
7.) They offer preinstalled CGI. Does that mean you can't upload your own CGI stuff? Or install things like Ikonboard?


7.) don't jump to conclusions. you can install your own scripts.


Originally posted by WorldWarGeneral
8.) What's formmail? What's it for?


8.) formmail allows the use of *NIX's /usr/bin/sendmail. you can have visitors fill out a form (via HTTP) to mail someone.


Originally posted by WorldWarGeneral
9.) What are the autoresponders for?


9.) When someone emails that address, an automatic response will be sent to that someone.


thar you go! ;)

[WorldWarGeneral]

Thanks for the quick response! :) I feel much better about signing up with them now.

So when I use their domain hosting, specific site addresses will show up in the address bar right? (worldwarhistory.com/biographies.html)

Oh, and there aren't any domain transfer fees, are there? Just go into my domain's registrar and change the nameservers, right?

[niv]

better believe it, it's domain hosting, no need for URL forwarding ;)

nope. no transfer fees. if there were any, they would say that.

[stu]

Keep in mind that not all Below10host plans come with subdomains, only some do. I emailed them a while ago asking if they could enable wildcards so that I can use a redirection script to make subdomains, but they said they cannot. This was referring to their gold plan, which does include a static IP but no subdomains.

[Martie]

Even though advice on forum boards is *usually* a good thing....it IS advisable for you to email your potential host BEFORE signing up yourself and ask those questions.