The Domain - Part 2

I had previously been running DynDNS at home since I'm dynamically assigned an IP address.  DynDNS had worked very well for a long time, but I was getting tired of the generic name so I set out to attach "bradleyit.com" to various servers on my home PC.

Here are some of the more interesting things that I learned:

• You CAN create a CNAME record that points to a DynDNS address that includes a port number, but it won't work with all applications/protocols.  For example, say you have a web server running on port 8080 at home and have a DynDNS set up so that going to "myhomepc.dyndns.com:8080" lands you at your server.  Creating a CNAME record like "www.bradleyit.com CNAME myhomepc.dyndns.com:8080" will make it possible for you to type in "www.bradleyit.com" and land at your home server.
• DNS records take hours to update, BE PATIENT.  I sit next to the ISP support team at work and I hear them say it all the time.  I always figured that they were doing the pizza-delivery guy thing, saying "it'll be there in 45 minutes" so that you're thrilled when they show up in 30 minutes.
• You have to pay extra to manage your DNS with Dotster.  This was upsetting.  After pulling the trigger with Dotster and kicking myself for not having gone with Google, I found that Dotster was asking for an additional $10/yr to manage my DNS.  Pay once for the domain + pay again to use it = jacked up.

Next up - transferring Google settings from one account to another.