F.A.Q.- Webspace: Virtual Domains: General

Last Updated: March 25, 1997

General Virtual Domain Information

What is a Virtual Domain? A Virtual Domain allows your URL to be http://www.yourcompany.com. The purpose of obtaining a Virtual Domain is to give your site a shorter URL, or Web address. This has many advantages - to give your site the appearance of having its own server, and thus a larger presence on the Web; to make it easier for people to remember your Web location; to allow your URL to fit on a business card; and to attach your company name to its Web name.

More technically, in reserving a Virtual Domain name one is registering with InterNic's database, the primary Domain Name Server (DNS) for the World Wide Web. Upon DNS registration one has reserved this URL forever (as long as you pay your registration bill, of course). Please refer to Internic's Web site for current policies and procedures.

Simply put, OBNet has reserved many I.P. numbers (the true address of everybody on the Web). A company pays rent to OBNet for use of this number and for attaching the reserved Domain Name to this address. A company's I.P. # will change when changing providers, but the name can and should remain the same. The I.P. Number points to the Domain Name.

Note: It is very important to realize that the portion yourcompany is the Domain Name. Not www.yourcompany.com. The www. is a common Server name pre-fix on the Web - this is different! The .com is for commercial entities, which most companies fall into. (Many people ask for .net and sometimes this can be obtained. However, this is between you & InterNic - with the possibility that InterNic will reject the request three weeks later! The guidelines are explicit in the DNS form. Read it.)

What flexibility do I have with DNS names (my URL)? Typically, there is no problem with registering http://yourcompany.com -vs- http://www.yourcompany.com. In fact, OBNet makes sure that both are taken care of during DNS registration - a proper set-up. This is considered true Virtual Domain. Otherwise, any name is possible so long as you check the name first. This does not 100% guarantee the name is not taken. The reason for this is that, though DNS lists pending names in its database upon receipt of the registration form, there is a backlog of putting these in the database. So, you can search all but the forms waiting to be put in the pending file- a backlog of the backlog, if you will. This chance of duplicating another name is slight, but real. As with everything on the Web, the backlog is growing exponentially and is currently at upwards of three weeks to completely register.

How do I register my Name with DNS? Check the name first. Then fill-out the on-line Registration Form. This should be sent after we receive the OBNet's Contract. The easiest way to do our contract is to bring the page up on your browser, use File: Print to print a copy, fill-out the form properly, and Fax (715-857-5004) it to OBNet.

A) Web Space Contract - Options: Mail or Fax OBNet:

OBNet
1966 Little Blake Lane
Luck, WI 54853
F: (715) 857-5004
P: (715) 857-5015
E:

B) DNS Registration -Use the contract, and the DNS Registration form has a section devoted to transfer (the time and cost with InterNic is the same as for a new D.N.). If needed, please include a Cover Page stating explicitly your former Provider's location, your Domain Name information, and when and how you want the transfer to be made. There are many combinations of transfer options, all of which are possible, and your desires simply need to be attached to our contra ct and faxed-in.

What about routing my old site's & SLIP\PPP's E-Mail accounts? As above, any requests are usually not a problem. We can point new mailboxes (your account comes with one, others are $5/each/month) to old mailboxes anywhere. There is a space on our contract to specify this, and any unusual requests should be handled in a Cover Letter.

Is traffic metered? NO! OBNet allows our customers to have unmetered traffic. This option will allow you to get as many hits as your AWESOME site deserves at NO extra cost.

What is 20 Megs of Webspace anyhow? Again, using the average HTML page at 100K, one divides this into 20 Megabytes and gets 100 pages including graphics - quite a large Web Site. Now, if your company is interested in an FTP site, or you are running high-demand, high-overhead CGI scripts or whatever, you'll find that 20 Megs may not be enough. The good news is that for only $5/month you can obtain additional 5 Meg blocks. What can we say? We're cheap.

What can I, and what can I not, do with my Webspace?

The following rules are not negotiable-

1) Obscene or pornographic anything;
2) Illegal activities in the United States or State of Wisconsin;
3) Threatening or slanderous material;
4) Any material deemed by OBNet to be degrading to our systems and/or our other customers.

Now, one would think that this is self-explanatory. However, we get questions everyday for us to clarify this list and explain why this is our policy. Second things first, why?- because we can! Just as some places of business require Shirt & Shoes or a dress code to enter their store, so does Clever. There is no difference.

Quite frankly, with all of the unknowns out there, the eyes of The Man are looking at the 'Net. This is especially true for the infrastructure organizations (like us) that allow anyone a place to put his site on the Web. Point is, one bad egg could shut down our server; we have immense responsibilities to our other businesses who's livelihood may depend on Clever.

Traffic is another concern. Anyone who spends one surfing minute on the Web knows that the easiest way to generate Web traffic is to just say you have some sort of interesting content at your site - not even to actually have it! Unfortunately, many sites have shut down because of someone doing this. [This degrades the Web - if you're gonna put a site up then label it correctly! Imagine if all sites did this - it would eliminate the Search feature of the Web entirely]. Again, keep in mind that you are not alone on our Servers, you're in an office park. No business would have employees running naked, shooting pistols off, and stuff 1000 people in a 1000 square foot office space without the Landlord and surrounding businesses evicting you. OBNet will evict you. We will not tolerate any material that may jeopardize the service to our customers.

General Non-Virtual Domain Information

What is a non-Virtual Domain anyhow? A non-Virtual Domain is having Webspace on a Server without an I.P. number, and thus without a Virtual Domain Name. Please refer to the General Info on Virtual Domains for information on Virtual Domains.

A non-Virtual Domain has two advantages: first, it's cheaper; second, you don't have to wait for InterNic registration. OBNet offers non-Virtual Domains as a service for anyone interested in having access to a Server, but no need for a VD Name.

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