Hey, I am staring a MUD I host the MUD in Digitalocean Now my MUD is running on ip xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:4000 I want to buy a Domain so players can type mudname:4000 and reach the game, not typing the ip I know how to buy a domain, I just need your help: 1. how i connect the domain to the ip? 2. where is the best place to buy a domain if you know
In terms of registrars, my main advice is to avoid GoDaddy and its resellers. If you do much research (note: I haven't for a couple of years), it sounds like their prices are good but you really get what you paid for if you ever need support (ie domain got suspended), if you catch my drift.
I'm also not entirely impressed with Dotster's handling of domain suspensions specifically. Their control panel usually will not even tell you that anything is wrong with the domain. When it does tell you, it fails miserably (IMO) to make it clear that this is the show-stopper, this is what you need to take care of to get service back pronto. OTOH, once you give up and put in a support ticket, their support people are fairly good at getting you squared away. (hint: 90% of the time your WHOIS contact info is invalid, or your mail server is blocking their verification emails as spam)
I'm harping on the subject of domain suspensions because they've been happening far, far more often since early 2014, on account of changes to ICANN's WHOIS verification rules.
Personally, I like EasyDNS out of Canada. They're not the cheapest, but their service is good and I've been with them for years now. Very rarely have any issues (occasinal DDoS attacks cause outages).
The main thing you probably want, if you're using your home network (like I am) is Dynamic DNS updating. That's where you set your router (or a script) up to update your DNS whenever your IP address changes, and the changes get pushed out in about 20 minutes.
IPv6 isn't even implemented by many ISP's yet. My ISP doesn't offer it, so even if I got an IPv6 address, it wouldn't do me any good. I'd still have to route everything through a 6to4 gateway.
So far, the panic that forced the not-very-well-thought-out IPv6 system hasn't actually done much, because the supposed imminent exhaustion of the IPv4 namespace didn't really happen. All it did was force a few of the places holding giant blocks of addresses in reserve to actually start selling them.
If you can use it, great! Go for it! But be sure you are also still reachable by IPv4, or half your potential players/customers/visitors won't find you.
Is there any merit in also offering a connection NOT only via the obsolete IPv4 :biggrin: but also IPv6?
Obsolete is a misleading statement, simply because the newer system is supported and used does not mean the latter is not still used extensively. When IPv4 is largely unused and hardly supported, then it will be obsolete.
I host the MUD in Digitalocean
Now my MUD is running on ip xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:4000
I want to buy a Domain so players can type mudname:4000 and reach the game, not typing the ip
I know how to buy a domain, I just need your help:
1. how i connect the domain to the ip?
2. where is the best place to buy a domain if you know
thanks