Issues with DNS and Domain Registration

#1

I currently have a blog on Blogger.com, and hosting a custom domain for it, via google apps. I purchased the server at Dreamhost to transfer to Wordpress.

When I began the setup, I chose “just a dreamhosters.com subdomain…” under the “my first hosted domain:” section. Afterwards, I added my domain from blogger/google apps, in the “manage domains” section of my dashboard. I opted to keep my email hosted by google apps, and keep that account open.

As I tried to complete the transfer of my domain and content, I came upon documentation that stated that I should find my authentication code, transfer the registration of my domain,and alter the DNS name. For some reason I could not accomplish this through google apps. Through their help section, I was pointed to the Enom website to get my authentication code, but to no avail. For some odd reason, the instructions did not match the menu options.

I have read enough to realize that If I screw this up, I will not be able to correct the transfer for 60 days. I have a big advertisement coming out on April 4th to promote my site. I really need this up and running as soon as possible to I can put in new posts, and have things looking good before the advertisement is public.

Can you please walk me through the domain transfer process, the process to “unlock” my domain, how to turn off privacy settings, and obtaining my authentication code.

Thank you for your help.

#2

That “transfer” is only for actual registration of the domain name. It’s like selling your car. Anybody can drive it (i.e. anybody can host your domain), but there’s only one owner (where it’s registered).

You don’t need to transfer your registration to host here. You only need to update DNS. There’s no 60 day hold on DNS, so don’t worry about the auth codes for now.
http://wiki.dreamhost.com/DNS

If you let us know where it’s currently registered (i.e. GoDaddy), we can walk you through steps to start your hosting here, and even transfer registration if you’d like.

-Scott

#3

That makes sense. However, when I tried to install wordpress on my domain, it failed. Not sure why.

Started the blog on Blogger, and bought a domain name through Google (who works with Enom I believe), which gave me an email, and an Apps account. Now I am ready to transfer to Wordpress, I have purchased space here, and associated the domain. However there is no wordpress installed yet, nor is there there a way for me to access my blog solely from Dreamhost. I hope this helps you provide me with more direction. If not, please let me know and we can email (or gmail chat) to walk through it.

#4

You can use the Hosts Trick to get things running before DNS changes.

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#5

What exactly is a DNS change anyway?

Will this require me to be running Wordpress on my local pc and host the blog there temporarily?

As well, assigning an IP address, doesnt that cost money to have a dedicated IP?

#6

You can point your domain.com to any online computer via settings at your registrar, which is most often done via an admin panel of some description at the registrar’s site. That’s a DNS change. Don’t worry about it until you’ve got your site setup.

You don’t have to host WP locally. Setup the domain on DH and install WordPress into it using Advanced One-Click or uploading manually via SFTP.

The Hosts Trick tell’s your computer “instead of asking the Internet where domain.com is, use this IP directly”. By forcing your own PC to look at your DH server IP for domain.com, you can install WP and work on your site directly on DreamHost, while everyone else sees your original domain until you switch DNS. For example if if I type in domain.com on my PC, I’ll see your website as it is online at the moment (GoogleApps or whatever).

Doesn’t cost a cent mate, the server IP isn’t “dedicated”.

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#7

Just now getting around to doing this. So does that mean I have to download Wordpress on my computer in the meantime?

#8

Well, you don’t have to.

Check out the One-Click Installs in Panel > Goodies (use Advanced).

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#9

Do you have an email I can talk to you on? I have a screenshot of my current DNS settings. I want to verify I am putting the information in the right spot before I do any damage.