Why all the fuss about Domain Names? (Masked Forwarding v Pointing)
By Walt on Monday, January 15 2007, 16:56 - Technical info - Permalink
When you buy yourself a domain name you also, inadvertently, buy into a world of frames, no-frames, IP addresses, and the occassional: 'something's not right'. Normally you don't need to worry about finding these 'little extras' although sometimes they have a habit of finding you. As always, there's a right way and a wrong way of doing things and sometimes the choice you make just ends up going wrong.
Setting up your domain name correctly can be important, as it will improve your search engine listings and it can ensure that your customers don't experience unforseen problems with your site.
So, you've bought yourself a domain name, you've had your domain name provider 'direct' it to your Moonfruit site and now you're finding that:
- your customers are having problems completing a purchase using PayPal
- your domain name just isn't showing up in searches properly
- visitors are not seeing your site as it should be seen (or it's not working correctly)
If any of this sounds familiar then read on, as you may just find some answers...
Masked Forwarding & Frames.
When asked to direct a domain name to another website, server or service, domain name providers will often use 'masked forwarding' which uses 'frames'.
If 'forwarding' is used your domain name provider creates a web page that uses your domain name, and within (framed by) this page sits your Moonfruit website, although your users won't notice the frame. This sounds simple enough but using frames can cause numerous problems.
PayPal
When your customers finish shopping and go through the checkout (payment) process PayPal (which needs to control the browser for security) tries to open a new web page using encryption to provide a secure page. The secure PayPal page should display the 'padlock' symbol in the browser and a PayPal website address. This allows your customers to complete the purchase safely and securely.
Using frames means that the main window which contains your domain name, remains unchanged. When your customers interact with your Moonfruit site (framed within it) the checkout process tries to open the secure PayPal web page and take control of the browser but it can’t. PayPal will detect this and fail the checkout, as it can't provide a secure browser window for the payment process.
Search Engine Indexing
Search engines index websites by reading not only the Meta Data (site description and site keywords), but also the links to and from your site, as well as site content. The more accurate the site description and keywords, the more numerous the links, and the better the content on your site, the greater the chances of your website appearing higher up in search results.
Using frames means that search engines will read only the framed web page which only contains a bit of HTML, a frame for your site, and little else. They won’t read your website held within that frame. While you can add Meta Data to your frame, the full and rich content on your site, along with your links will be ignored by the search engines and deprive you of better rankings in searches.
Fixing Frames
The first point to be clear about is that you aren't transferring your domain name. You are simply 'pointing' your domain name to another location.
The solution requires 'pointing' your 'DNS A record' (your domain name) to our web servers where your Moonfruit site is hosted or stored. Visitors who use your domain name will be instantly (and seamlessly) sent to your Moonfruit site while your domain name remains visible.
This allows PayPal to control your web browser to provide a secure service so that your customers can complete their purchases easily. It also means that search engines will index your entire site - an added bonus.
Simply contact your domain name provider and ask them to 'point' your 'DNS A record' to the Moonfruit servers at 146.101.249.107 (our IP address). Then log in to your site, open the Site Addresses tab on the Admin panel and add your domain name to the list. If your provider doesn't permit pointing of your 'DNS A record', find one who does.
In a nutshell
It may sound complicated but 'pointing' is in fact fairly straight-forward and the benefits speak for themselves. 'Pointing' ensures that your customers have a greater chance of finding your site in the first place, enjoy a better experience on your site, and then complete more transactions. So, lose the frames and everyone’s a winner!
Comments
I have had just about all of these problems. Very annoying at first and especially setting the domain name up and pointing it to moonfruit. I get my domain names from 123-reg and that bit which says be careful when altering this DNS record always seems to get me!
Paypal
i have not had any problems with this that i know of. But could my domain name stop the payments going via payal to my account? I doubt it but i would like to be sure.
META data
thanks to that cool little page setting widget it has given me more hits and i know that i have inclusion in all the major search engines. Thanks moonfruit.
Moonfruit updates
i am wondering wether there is an update this month. is there? If yes please give us an approximate time range.
Please take my ideas and enhance them from the "happy new year post".
thanks,
criptor9
Criptor9 - what does this mean please & how do i use it?
"META data - thanks to that cool little page setting widget it has given me more hits and i know that i have inclusion in all the major search engines. Thanks moonfruit."
Thanks
to use this cool widget just simply go to page settings and then meta data. Put in your keywords for the search engines, description of the page and the name of the page.
What it does:
before when we didnt have the meta data page setting, our websites were'nt properly being indexed in the search engines. The tool just simply gives you more chance and inclusion of finding your site in the search engines.
Has this helped?
Does anyone know if domainspeed.net uses "pointing" ?
Please let me know.
Lee
how to convert my adress from www.prashant.moonfruit.com to www.prashant.com?
Hi Baldibolt, most domain providers will allow you to set up DNS A record changes, which enables pointing. You're best off asking their cusotmer service guys.
And Prashant, you can buy www.prashant.com (if available) from any domain name provider, and then get them to point it to your moonfruit site so you no longer have to use the .moonfruit.com address. We recommend www.gandi.net who are a great domain name provider and our sister company.
I hope that helps,
Joe
Re. DNS A.
I've just completed a domain transfer from Freeola to 123-reg because Freeola do not offer IP pointing - only named server pointing. This process took 2 months and cost £30 between the 2 companies. This could have been avoided if Moonfruit offered the Named Server option. is this in the pipeline?
Hi FIERYhot, we've partnered with a domain company in France called www.gandi.net. Through them we'll be able to offer domains with every pack and various DNS services, but that's still a few months away. But the process will get easier, we appreciate it can be a little bit complicated at the moment. Thanks for your patience.
Help! Moonfruits nameserver?
Can anyone tell me the nameserver of Moonfruit? l need this to change my web address.
Thanks!
hi;
i am new to this all sorry if i sound stupid but i m intersted in buy .co.uk domain with no moonfruit name included as i gather from chat moonfruit do not offer this service and i have to buy from somewhere else and gandi.net is part of moonfruit but do not offer .co.uk domains. If I am not correct please correct me. Once i buy desired domain name i can get support service of domain provider to help me to point it to moonfruit. Please help me I hope i have not made this too difficult to understand and which company is best for domain names. kindly regards.
kp
6-5-2007
Hi,
I can only change my DNS servers to NS1.Anything.com or NS2.ANYTHING.NET etc etc My domain name providers don't allow ISP numbers. Does anyone know if Moonfruit have an NS1 nameserver address that I could enter?
Also, my domain provider is GoDaddy and also DomainsAreFree.com in case i'm missing something obvious. I know GoDaddy allow forwarding of the url but i'd rather have it on Moonfruit's servers.
Thanks,
Declan
kp, hello,
your questions are fine and you're not the first to be confused about buying domains and linking them to your site. As Joe mentioned we will be able to offer '.co.uk' domains soon, through Gandi, although '.net', '.com' amongst many others, are readily available. Easily and 123-reg are UK based companies that can offer '.co.uk' so check them out.
The two services mentioned above do provide 'pointing' for your DNS-A record, which should be fairly straight-forward. We also offer some FAQs which should help with setting up your domain name to 'point' to our servers (along with the IP Address which you will need to know). Or just have a read of the blog again which does include a few basic guidelines.
Decbohan,
our service doesn't use Nameservers (which involves the transfer of your domain name to another provider). We host your website, your pages, your files etc, which sits on our servers. These servers don't have a name just an (IP) address - 146.101.249.107 - so your domain name provider needs to permit you to point your DNS-A record to our servers - which means visitors using your domain name actually see your moonfruit site without seeing the .moonfruit.com.
If your provider doesn't supply this service, and you want to use your own domain name, then you will need to find another provider who does and take your domain name with you. All the 'better' domain name providers do offer this option.
Hope that helps.
Walt
Hi, ive read through all the comments and have to say im still a tad unsure, I would like to redirect my website www.aromamassein.co.uk to my moonfruit account but UKreg require 1st and 2nd nameserver, and all moonfruit offer is a DNS A 146.101.249.107 ???
HELP!
Many thanks Debs
I have been using frames and today tryed to use pointing. I have successfully put moonfruits IP into my UKReg account (www.edwilliamsmusic.co.uk) but when I add a name into moonfruit under admin/site address, it say, 'the domain does not exist/ Please make sure you have purchased the domain and spelt it correctly'. I have owned this address for some time and it's spelt correctly.
What can I do?
Thanks in advance.
Ed.
Can I just add that DNS 'A' record re-pointing is THE correct and proper way to cause a domain name to lead to your Moonfruit site?
Moonfruit (I proffer) don't allow any other means quite understandably because any of the other methods are essentially 'botches' or 'hacks' around the correct way of doing the task.
Everybody's being very polite about it - but a provider that doesn't allow for DNS 'A' record re-pointing is clearly only aimed at and interested in the 'teeny bopper', sub-amateur end of the market. Nobody above 13 years of age should be using such a registrar!
For what it's worth - I've been a long-standing customer of 123-Reg - and have not ever had to use their customer service - precisely because the Control Panel is so utterly comprehensive - you can do everything yourself. No faffing about with e-mail exchanges with half-baked service providers.
That's it!
Arif
Hi everyone
I'm really pulling my hair out at the moment , I'm trying to do the whole DNS thing which usually is fine, but I've realised that moonfruit only provides one DNS name server 146.101.249.107, but I'm with 1&1 and they require two... I've emailed moonfruit twice but no answer, that was almost 2 wks ago, can anyone here help.
Thanks
I need to have two server names and IP addresses for this IP pointing or transfer of Domain whatever they call it. Why they don't post this information on the Q&A section of the web site. This is very annoying sending an email and responding 3 days later. I am getting billed everyday and need to have the website up soon! Please advise, otherwise I will file a complaint with the appropriate entities.
Thank you,
Kate
Hi,
ive just set up my website and found out about this option of having a domain name without the 'moonfruit' bit,
i brought a domain name from 123-reg.com and i think ive directed the ip adress the right way, how long should i expect it to change and how would i know?
thanks
jonny
Hi, ok so im having the same problem that most people are talking about. did anyone figure it out?! where do we find the answer to this:
i purchased a domain from webhost and in order to have my domain on the site i need two name servers, but moonfruit only provides the dnsa ip or whatever . someone help?! this is so frustrating, im wasting money by the day as most of you know from experience.
Hi Jenny,
This is a common confusion, often not helped by the DNP (Domain Namer Providers).
In a nutshell, you shouldn't have a problem requesting that your (DNS) A-record be pointed to our "web" servers at 146.101.249.107, especially when your DNP provides this service.
Unfortunately not all DNP provide this, so it's always worth checking before buying. If they don't allow you point your A-record then you will be faced with changing providers to someone who can offer this service to you.
Name Servers only come into play when you wish to change providers and you intend to host your domain name with another provider. We don't offer this service so a request for name servers won't help you at all.
So, the key points are:
1. Ask your DNP whether they permit A-record pointing to external web servers
2. If they do, then provide them (or log in to their site and do it yourself) with our IP address e.g. 146.101.249.107
3. If they don't then you need to consider your options e.g. change provider to someone who does - although they may charge you for this.
Who can we recommend? Well the ones we know of that do provide 'pointing' are gandi.net, easily.co.uk, 123-reg.co.uk. Please, just do some research and see what works best for you.
Oh and it can take up to 72 hours, once your A-record is pointed and you have added your domain name to your website.
Good luck!
Walt
Hi all,
I have my domain registered with 123-reg and pointed the A record to the IP address 3 days ago now and still nothing. Do I need to put anything in the 'Name' field of the A Record?
Cheers
Chris
Hi Chris, you'd need to check with 123-reg about exactly what to put into their interface and where. Good luck!
Joe
Thanks Joe. Almost sorted - its pointing nearly in the right direction now hehe. If I type in the address without the www prefix then it works fine??! Any suggestions?
Chris
Apologies - turns out that the problem is with the DNS propegation on 123-reg's end of things. Some thingummyjig or other bunging up the works.
Thanks for your help :)
Chris
Hi
All very interesting and I managed to get 123 to point to the IP address given - now I have another problem, I used to be able to put in my web address into google and it found it but now it does not, any ideas? have I done something wrong. My site is still 'under construction' but I do intend it to be a business and need to get the search engines to bring my site up when I type in the address.
Any help appreciated
Let me get this straight... despite having purchased my domain from Gandi (Moonfruit's sister company) and setting the DNS A record to point to 146.101.249.107 (Moonfruit's servers), and selecting Masked forwarding so that my treasured domain is what my visitors see in the address bar, I'm going to have problems with PayPal and Search Engine Indexing?
If that's correct, then is there any kind of a workaround, or am I asking for the proverbial 'moon on a stick' here?
Hi Stefan, don't worry I've looked at your site and you've done it perfectly. If you use the DNS A record method (pointing), you don't need to use masked forwarding. By changing the DNS A record you get both to keep your URL visible to the browser (not moonfruit's URL) and you get correctly indexed and with working paypal. You cannot do both the DNS A record change and do masked fowarding. So you've done it right, don't worry about it! Thanks, Joe
Oh good, thanks, Joe. Mind you, looking at my Technical Settings over at Gandi, I see that I have both methods in operation - pointing to Moonfruit's servers AND masked forwarding. I presume I should delete the masked forwarding then (?). I'll do that now and see what happens.
Hi Everyone. We have a lot of customers that seem to be getting stuck here. For anyone having problems, simply ask your domain name host or helpdesk to "Change the DNS A record IP for domain name mydomain.co.uk to 146.101.249.107". This will get you a quick resolution. We hope this helps, Colin, Tech Support.
In my domain control panel I have the DNS A record set up correctly. 146.101.249.107 at FastHosts
But what do I have to do in Moonfruit?
I dont see a tab in Admin> Site Addresses
"Simply contact your domain name provider and ask them to 'point' your 'DNS A record' to the Moonfruit servers at 146.101.249.107 (our IP address). Then log in to your site, open the Site Addresses tab on the Admin panel and add your domain name to the list"
What do I do next?
Hi Phil,
Just as it says in the panel, just add your domain name to the list. Just drop (copy and paste) your domain name (www.yoursitename.com) in the bottom field and click add. That will tell our system to expect a domain pointing at your site. This should be the last thing you need to do to up your domain name.