Is it better to register a domain name and have hosting with two seperate companies?

[TheBigCheese]

Hi everyone

My question is as the title really...I'm looking to register some new .co.uk and .com domains and I'm sure I read somewhere a little while ago that it's far better to register your domains with one company (i.e. 123Reg), and to have hosting with different company (i.e. Zen/TSOHost etc).

I'm sure it said that if they're both registered with one company and that company goes under you're sunk, where as if they are split over two companies you still have a back up....or am I talking a load of old cobblers?

Many thanks for any advice, I'm rather :| over this!


*Edit* I must be half asleep today, I've put this thread in the wrong forum, could a mod please move it to the IT/Internet room. Thanks!

 

[Recover My Image]

We bought our Domain .co.uk name Here

Host our website Here

 

[CS-Cart]

Of course, it would be much better to purchase a domain from a trusted registrar. This way, in case you need to move from one hosting company to another, you'll have no problems with switching. Otherwise, there were lots of problem cases when such trivial actions as DNS records change may not be performed.

 

[penguin-chrissie]

Hi TheBigCheese, I would say that this totally depends on the company you are using to register your domains / host your website. There are always ways to protect yourself, however, being in the industry myself, this is not normally a way I would recommend a customer proceed.

At the end of the day, if you register your domain with a reputable hosting company with a long standing history, there should be no reason to think that your website will not also be safe with them.

There are benefits to having your domain / hosting with one company, the main one being the ease of managing this. For example, we have had many customers over the years register their domains with an alternative provider and then come to us for hosting services. They receive renewal notices annually from us which they pay and they have an easy to use interface to keep their details up to date. However, they forget that their domain is with another provider and don't keep their details up to date and so their domain does not get renewed. When you have your domains and hosting with the same provider, you know you have one source for support and billing etc.

There is of course no issue having a domain registered with one company and hosting with another as long as you make sure you keep the details up to date with both and they both offer renewal reminder services.

My main bit of advice to anyone looking for hosting / domain services would be the following:

1: Do your research - the best way to find out about a host is to ask their customers! Does your intended webhost / registrar have a user forum?

2: Make sure you register your domain in your name / company name - sounds basic but believe me it is not always the case!

3: Always keep a back up of your website. Crucial regardless of who you host with - we provide weekly backups of all sites we host but having your own backup gives you peace of mind.

I hope this has been of some use to you. At the end of the day, you have to do what feels right, but I do honestly think as long as you pick a reputable company, you should be able to trust them with both domain and hosting.

 

[Dawg]

I'd advise for the split between hosting and domain registration, although, as said above, this is not crucial if you choose an established, reputable company.

More important is to separate hosting/domain registration from Web design/development. If a designer/developer has control of your hosting and domain, as well as design/development any dispute will see you held firmly by the short and curlies.

If you split the web design/dev from the hosting, it's not too hard to also split off the registration and keep all your eggs in separate baskets. Just good business practice.

 

[penguin-chrissie]

I agree entirely. We have sadly seen many cases where designers register the domains in their name and so the owner has a battle to prove ownership when there is a dispute.

This is a rare occurance of course but unfortunately it does happen and so if you sort out the hosting / domain yourself, you can be assured that this wont happen to you.

 

[TheBigCheese]

Thank you all for your posts, they have been very helpful!

My web hosting will be with Vidahost, I use them for other websites and have found them to be absolutely cracking when it comes to answering enquiries etc.

My only worry is if they do suffer in the crunch and go under as they appear to only be a small company.

If I was going to register the domain with a different I thought of using one of the big companies but looking at the Review Centre website the reviews are appalling...

123Reg and Fast Hosts fair incredibly badly.

Can anyone recommend a good well established place to register a domain?

I should note that I won't be using anyone for web designing as I will be doing that myself, so it's just for the registration and hosting.

 

[Dawg]

Everybody hates the big ones, just as they hate the banks, this years Prime Monster, etc...but:

I use 1&1 to register domains. I don't have many, say about 60, which I have bought over the last decade. I only ever register an 'instant domain' at 1&1: no add ons, I even resist the temptation of buying Norton Spazware, (they are still flogging Norton 2007, cheek-ee munk-ees), and as yet have never had a problem.

In fact they have improved as now they have a phone enquiry line, although domain resolution time is longer than before.

They are also one of the biggest providers in the world, so might go the distance. Can't tell, nobody can.

That's my 0.02euros worth.

 

[edman]

I purchase my domainname from Godaddy and I have my own dedicated server where I host my sites.

Domain names and hosting don't have to go together. For example Godaddy hosting is nothing to write home about, but their domain name service is excellent. Do a little digging and get the best from web hosts and domain registrars

 

[Fuzzy]

Fuzzy bought her domains from Telivo who don't communicate effectively, so quickly transferred it all to this guy who organises our hosting

 

[webit]

I've used Easyspace before and what is intresting is for domains that I've been intrested in and never registered I then find out that out that they registered them in their name after about 6 months and put up the generic 'this domain is available for purchase' page.

I now use mydomain.com in the states to register all my domains and I've never had that problem since.

 

[edman]

Also when going for a host, I'd say to look for one with cPanel as it will make life easier for you

 

[ORDERED WEB]

This is all about control and trust

As a company or individual you need to be in conttrol of your domain, and the hosting

Who you trust to do the job is another story

there are different grades of issue here

1. Website hosting, and domain registration, all in name of (and organised by) the designer
2. Registration in name of owner, hosting in designers account
3. Registration and hosting in name of owner
4. Registrationa nd hosting in 2 separate places, in name of owner

From a practicality point of view, 3&4 are the same thing, except there is more chance of loosing the login for one or the other. if you are with a reputable host/registrant, with a good track recorrd not much can go wrong
From a practacality point of view, sone sites expand, & grow to the point where 3&4 need to be separate, because the company used for registration doesnt offer what is needed any more

Option 2 causes problems, and would definatally not be recommended for a database driven site, or where you have no access to backingthe site and database up. if you are given full access, and you can make the backups, option 2 can be a godsend, as your designer can be "right in there" at the drop of a hat to assist you

Option 1 can be a nightmare when things go wrong, especially the breakdown of the relationship between designer and clint, and moreso with a non .co.k domain name

We advise our customers to do option 3/4, but we still have customers who insist on option 2, and the occasional one who insists on option 1. Inthe latter case, we register it in the mane of the customer anyway

___

From a designers point of view I would say we deal with a option 1/2 issue, where the previous designr was being so obstructve we needed to intervene about once every few weeks - so it is a reasonable problem. The fall out from this can be qutie severe, causing sites to go down for months, or in th worst case scenario, sites being re-built from scratch

Also from the designers point of view (and the customers) I just lept in (on Sunday AM) and resolved an e-mail configuration issue (customers naughty fiddling fingers) for an option 3 client. If you do have an excelent relationship with your designer, and you really trust them, leaving them with the hands on atleast some of the reigns can pay you back big time (approx £400 in lost orders in this case)

 

[edman]

I also provide web hosting to my clients, but always advice they purchase their own domain name themselves

For each hosting account I give to my clients, they have full control. They get their own cPanel, full access to create unlimited databases, sub-domains, add on domains, emails , however I do give a fixed space and bandwidth too.

You've made some good point here as I've worked with clients who got hosting from a designer, but no access to the control panel to manage the site. As well, when it came to creating additional emails , this was also a pain too.

Whatever package you get, make sure you have full control of your hosting as well as you domain name. Just a hosting space isn't enough

Whatever package you get, make sure you have full control of your hosting as well as you domain name. Just a hosting space isn't enough

We also make sure each person has full video tutorials on how to use the cpanel as well, like this ... http://www.cybertaurus.com/flash_tutorials/cPanel/index.html

This is all about control and trust

As a company or individual you need to be in conttrol of your domain, and the hosting

Who you trust to do the job is another story

there are different grades of issue here

1. Website hosting, and domain registration, all in name of (and organised by) the designer
2. Registration in name of owner, hosting in designers account
3. Registration and hosting in name of owner
4. Registrationa nd hosting in 2 separate places, in name of owner

From a practicality point of view, 3&4 are the same thing, except there is more chance of loosing the login for one or the other. if you are with a reputable host/registrant, with a good track recorrd not much can go wrong
From a practacality point of view, sone sites expand, & grow to the point where 3&4 need to be separate, because the company used for registration doesnt offer what is needed any more

Option 2 causes problems, and would definatally not be recommended for a database driven site, or where you have no access to backingthe site and database up. if you are given full access, and you can make the backups, option 2 can be a godsend, as your designer can be "right in there" at the drop of a hat to assist you

Option 1 can be a nightmare when things go wrong, especially the breakdown of the relationship between designer and clint, and moreso with a non .co.k domain name

We advise our customers to do option 3/4, but we still have customers who insist on option 2, and the occasional one who insists on option 1. Inthe latter case, we register it in the mane of the customer anyway

___

From a designers point of view I would say we deal with a option 1/2 issue, where the previous designr was being so obstructve we needed to intervene about once every few weeks - so it is a reasonable problem. The fall out from this can be qutie severe, causing sites to go down for months, or in th worst case scenario, sites being re-built from scratch

Also from the designers point of view (and the customers) I just lept in (on Sunday AM) and resolved an e-mail configuration issue (customers naughty fiddling fingers) for an option 3 client. If you do have an excelent relationship with your designer, and you really trust them, leaving them with the hands on atleast some of the reigns can pay you back big time (approx £400 in lost orders in this case)

 

[ORDERED WEB]

The does the designer have control, or doesnt the designer have control is a double edged sword

The input having a desgner on hand to leap in and resolve things cant be over estimated. The total pain that is involved with an obstructive designer cant be over estimated

Trust needs to be earnt, and it is a decision that companies really need to understand. I think the best of both worlds is registering the hosting where your designer recommends, and then giving the designer access - Access you are in control of

For some people / companies, this is just too much faffing around, or requires access to things that dont want to understand

What you definatally dont want to do, is go to a designer, having chosen the hosting yourself, to find out is isn't up to spec in some way, or that the server confguration is so bad, things just wont work, or will not be secure etc..

 

[edman]

True say,

however the designer access issue should be treated neutrally.

Give your web designer full control of things they need rather than let them give you hosting without control because you don't care about the tech side of things.

If for any reason you can't continue with a designer, you should never be stuck because you don't have full control.

I give my clients web hosting space free for life, whether they work with me again or not, and they don't have to speak with me to use it or stop using it. I also have a 24/7 support team so they can always contact them anytime day or night, their questions will be dealt with without question.

The does the designer have control, or doesnt the designer have control is a double edged sword

The input having a desgner on hand to leap in and resolve things cant be over estimated. The total pain that is involved with an obstructive designer cant be over estimated

Trust needs to be earnt, and it is a decision that companies really need to understand. I think the best of both worlds is registering the hosting where your designer recommends, and then giving the designer access - Access you are in control of

For some people / companies, this is just too much faffing around, or requires access to things that dont want to understand

What you definatally dont want to do, is go to a designer, having chosen the hosting yourself, to find out is isn't up to spec in some way, or that the server confguration is so bad, things just wont work, or will not be secure etc..

 

[Dominic Taylor]

In terms of the designer/host/registrar split....generally I believe it's much easier if the domain and hosting are with the same company, mainly for novices as it means we can handle everything without confusion. Advanced users may wish to separate out the two for security and it's true - the number of clients we've received from hosts who've gone AWOL with the client's domain is reasonable - in *most* cases we can retrieve the domain via the top-level registrar however.

Hosting through the designer of your site - this fully depends on the contract you have with the designer. Ideally you will have full access to the hosting account for a number of reasons including being able to manage your own email accounts, make small updates, take your own backups etc.

On the other hand...we all know what giving access to novice clients can do!

My only worry is if they do suffer in the crunch and go under as they appear to only be a small company.

I know everyone says this....but we're not going anywhere Business is increasing as people review costs and realise they don't need to be paying £100/year to host their little site

 

[bestforsextoys]

that is silly to use 2 different compnaies if you use one you can control it in one backend so just use the same company to register and host try daily.co.uk

Austin

 

[Steve2507]

Registering a domain is very much price bound, but hosting should be service bound.

Having the two with different providers makes good sense as long as you have access to change nameservers.

For a number of reasons we have domains registered with 4 different providers (although the majority are with ukreg) and it doesn't hurt any of them.

Our hosting is with Donhosts and we are about to set up hosting for a new project with Webair.