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Acquiring a Web Domain and Creating an A-record

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If you're using Ngrok for testing purposes, you can skip this section.

What is this section about?

For experienced developers who are familiar with domain operations, this section provides a general overview of how to acquire a web domain and set up an A-record pointing to your server.

This guide serves as an example to get you started.

1. Choosing a Domain Registrar

What is a Domain Registrar?

A domain registrar is a company that manages the reservation of internet domain names. There are numerous domain registrars available, including Namecheap, Google Domains, and many others.

Choose a registrar based on your preference, budget, and the features they offer.

2. Acquiring a Domain

  • Navigate to your chosen domain registrar's website.
  • Use their search functionality to check the availability of your desired domain name.
  • Once you've found an available domain, follow the purchase process.

3. Pointing the Domain to Your Server (Creating an A-record)

  • After acquiring your domain, you'll need to point it to your server using an A-record. An A-record maps a domain name to an IP address.
  • Log in to your domain registrar's dashboard.
  • Navigate to the DNS management section. The location and naming of this section can vary, but it's often labeled as "DNS Settings," "Name Server Management," or something similar.
  • Look for an option to add or manage records.

Danger

Not all domain registrars allow you to set up A-records. If you can't find the option to add or manage records, you can set up the A-record using a third-party DNS provider like Cloudflare.

  • Add a new A-record:
    • Host/Name: Often, you'll set this to @ to represent the root domain. If you're setting up a subdomain, you'd enter the subdomain name.
    • Value/Points to: Enter the IP address of your server.
    • TTL: This is the time-to-live, indicating how long the DNS resolver should cache the query. You can usually leave this at the default setting. img.png

  • Propagation:

    • After setting the A-record, there's a propagation time. This is the time it takes for DNS changes to be updated across the internet. Depending on various factors, this can take anywhere from a few minutes to 48 hours.
    • You can use tools like DNS Checker to check the propagation status.

Success

With your domain name acquired and A-record set, you're now ready to proceed with Nginx and SSL certificate setup.