I have set up a Cloud Server instance on Rackspace, and I have purchased a domain name and directed it to the IP address of my server because I want to host a Sinatra application on this server, but it's my first time doing this and I need some pointers.
My primary confusion is: when I hit the IP address or the domain name in the browser, how is Ubuntu going to know which directory it should serve the files from? Is there a configuration file I should modify? I already modified /etc/hosts with this:
173.1.1.23 my.domain.com
(not the real IP address)
But that doesn't work. My app is running...so I don't know what is missing here. Has anyone set up a site on Rackspace? Any insight would be much appreciated.
Secondary confusion is: is it possible to point a domain name to an IP address without a name server? Just curious. GoDaddy made me think it was, but now I'm not so sure. :-/