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I know you can use something like http://www.dyndns.com/ to point
ReallyCoolName.dyndns.com to 74.125.127.100 which is google.com

How would you go about pointing
ReallyCoolName.com to 74.125.127.100 which is google.com

note: I'm not looking for web redirection or something like that.

7 Answers 7

4

If you wanted to redirect ReallyCoolName.com to Google's main search page, I would suggest a CNAME record instead of an A record, because then you effectively eliminate the need for administrating the domain. It's all Google's responsibility at that point. Also, Google employs load-balancers and (I think...) round-robin DNS to efficiently distribute the load to the best machines, so the best machine for the job might not be that one IP address.

Use a CNAME, ReallyCoolName.com -> Google.com is what it was made for.

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  • 1
    www.google.com is already a CNAME and, in theory, you should not chain CNAMEs (RFC 1034, section 3.6.2).
    – bortzmeyer
    Jul 25, 2009 at 18:01
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If you want reallycoolname.com to go to 74.125.127.100, you can just add an A record to reallycoolname.com to point to 74.125.127.100. Your DNS provider should have some kind of administration panel for this, and you would set up an "@" record and possibly a "*" record if you wanted www.reallycoolname.com to go to that IP also.

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  • Really? Two downvotes? If there is some thing innaccurate about what I've written (which there isn't), leave a comment.
    – Adam Brand
    Jul 26, 2009 at 2:36
  • I think you just missed an implicit detail of the question. He's using dyndns because he doesn't have a static IP. He doesn't want to have to maintain the A record as his IP changes.
    – Ben Doom
    Jul 27, 2009 at 18:40
  • He doesn't say anything about needing a dynamic IP. He just used dyndns.com as an example. The post above with 4 points does not address his IP changing either.
    – Adam Brand
    Jul 27, 2009 at 19:45
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You need to register ReallyCoolName.com and point it to the IP address of your choice using A type DNS record. You will need DNS hosting if you don't do it yourself. I believe all of that can be done with GoDaddy or directNIC.

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Just log into your DNS server and add an "A" record that points to the IP address of your choice.

I remember a few years back when someone pointed "retards.com" over to "microsoft.com"

It was funny while it lasted. ;-)

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  • So there is no rules about who can point something at something else (I guess as long as your not committing fraud)? And it looks like based off Nasko answer you might be able to do this via GoDaddy.
    – Tyndall
    Jul 24, 2009 at 21:08
  • Well, you should generally have the approval of the owner of the IP you are pointing at, but there are not any technical reasons you cannot do it. If you do not have their approval, and they do not approve, and they are bastards, they could redirect requests for your domain to goatse or the like. :) Jul 24, 2009 at 21:20
  • TECHNICALLY you can point your domain name to any IP address you like. Just like you can "hot link" to other people's images, spoof email addresses when sending emails, and spoof caller id when making phone calls. BUT... whether its legal or not depends on where you live. :-)
    – KPWINC
    Jul 24, 2009 at 22:03
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As reallycoolname.com is a domain name an not a subdomain, you have to register (buy) it.

Pointing a domain name at a server doesn't always mean that the server will respond. If the server has a default web it will pick up anything that you throw at it, but otherwise it will only respond to the domain names that the web sites are set up to listen for.

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Others have already answered the technical side but two points popped immediately into my mind when I read your question.

  1. Why would you want to?
  2. If you're going to be playing around with DNS perhaps you should first learn something about it so you have an understanding of what it's for and how it's used. There are enough broken systems out there already.
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As others have said, you need to register the domain name with a registrar first. When you do that, you'll have to give them your name servers. You can host that yourself, but if the IP address you want to point to is coming from a dynamic IP address (from a typical cable modem or DSL connection) that is a bad idea because you'll end up changing it too often.

The other important piece is that if you want a domain.com to point to a dynamically assigned IP address, it is best if the DNS host handles dynamic updates somehow. Personally, I use everydns.com as my name servers. They have scripts available which allow you to automatically update your IP address and also work with the tomato firmware I am using on my wireless router. There are other providers that will provide that functionality as well.

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