# Domain Masking



## InfusedEMP (Aug 17, 2005)

I've recently registered a domain name through www.netfirms.com, and I went through hell trying to get it pointed at my site. Now I've finally got it pointed at my site, but after typing in the domain name and getting to the site, it displays the host address of the site instead of my domain name. I've spoken with netfirms tech support, and they tell me they have no way to mask the domain. (I wouldnt reccommend netfirms at all) Does anybody know of a way I could get masking for my domain name? Is there a way I can set it up by myself, or does it have to go through the place I registered the domain name though? This is really frustrating for me, because I didn't pay for a domain name only to have the long host servers address displayed in the address bar. I would really appreciate any tips or ideas from anyone. Thanks to anyone who replys.


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## InfusedEMP (Aug 17, 2005)

*Update:*

well, I've been to a bunch of sites for different hosting services and name registration, and I've discovered that I can supposidly change the nameserver tags that I've got on netfirms, to make the domain name tun from another service. I've found two that offer free cloaking, www.1and1.com, and www.luckyregister.com Does anybody know about the reliability of either of these places? I actually called 1and1's tech support, and from what I can understand, doing a dns transfer wont cost me anything, so I could keep my domain name running from netfirms.com, but have it masked by 1and1.com Is my understanding of this correct?


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## ebackhus (Apr 21, 2005)

I've never heard of a company that will give you true free masking, but I understand your plight. I have two domains (one from directnic.net and the other from godaddy.com) and both are set to redirect to my server at home. Problem is, when you hover over a link the status bar (IE) doesn't show www.domain.com/file.html but instead shows the server's IP. Godaddy does offer masking but they're VERY slow about updating their DNS servers so I'm wary of experimenting right now.


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## Neverwinter (Aug 15, 2005)

I believe you may be able to transfer your Domain to GoDaddy. I've used them for quite sometime now and their support is by far the greatest. I don't think I have ever met a company that cares so much for it's customers.

With GoDaddy you get Total DNS control and Domain Masking. Take a look at their website, register and ask them about Transfering (If you have any problems with it). They'll help you all the way.

Pricing - Transfer .com $7.95 + 25cents ICANN Fee.

This shot shows the information about the Transfer. Screenshot is from www.godaddy.com:










If you would like to hide the real URL showing up in the status bar when you hover over a link use the following code:

*Place this in the header section of every page*

```
<script>

//configure status, leave as "" for no status
var statusmsg=""

function hidestatus(){
window.status=statusmsg
return true
}

</script>
```
*Place this piece of code into every link you wish to mask the status message of*

```
onMouseover="return hidestatus()"
```
*Example*

```
<a target="_blank" [b]onMouseover="return hidestatus()"[/b] href="http://www.techsupportforum.com">Tech Support Forums</a>
```
Hope this helps.


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## InfusedEMP (Aug 17, 2005)

I think I might have just found the solution to my problem. I found out through talking with luckyregistar and that other place, that they did not offer forwarding and masking for free...I wouldve had to transfer my domain name to their servers. I've now discovered zoneedit.com, and it seems to be the answer. They don't charge you anything to forward and mask up to 5 domains, that don't have to be transferred to their server. It seems that the way they make money, is by letting you add more domains on top of the five to your account. I'm going to give them a try. I'll have to change my nameservers to point to them, and then wait up to 3 days, but I will post my results here when I find out if it actually works or not.


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## Neverwinter (Aug 15, 2005)

zoneedit.com only allow up to 200mb of DNS queries a month or something like that.

Constraints suck.


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## InfusedEMP (Aug 17, 2005)

I'm new to the whole world of dns and such, only having registered my first domain name 6 days ago...what exactly is a "dns querie"? Would that be pageloads? My site gets on average about 26-36 unique hits a day and up to 200-300 pageloads. I don't know if that would make it go over their limit, if that's what a dns querie is.


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## Neverwinter (Aug 15, 2005)

> I'm new to the whole world of dns and such, only having registered my first domain name 6 days ago...what exactly is a "dns querie"? Would that be pageloads? My site gets on average about 26-36 unique hits a day and up to 200-300 pageloads. I don't know if that would make it go over their limit, if that's what a dns querie is.


A DNS is a Domain Name Server. They basicaly act as intermediary between X and the Server. There are a series of TLD (Top Level Domains IE. .com/.co.uk/.net) DNS's. The understanding I have is when you type www.google.co.uk for example, it will query the fist DNS you have ste on your system. That server will then direct to a .co.uk DNS which will then look at the next section. The main DNS's have a list of all the domains and the IP address they corrospond to (see it almost like the host.file). For me, my domain was brought at GoDaddy, so any DNS queries for my domain ( www.meahneah.com ) directs through the GoDaddy DNS.

If you have a domain name, you often have to play around with the A Record which is your record on the DNS server that conatins the IP address or alt. URL to direct the query to.

Page hits are simply the number of people visiting your page at any given time.

Hope this helps.

P.S

You can see a DNS in action (kind of) using this link: http://www.dnsstuff.com/tools/tracert.ch?ip=google.com it shows the queries and hops required before reaching google.com.


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