Pointing a 1&1 domain to f2s space

[defectivehw]

hi,

i have a domain with 1and1 that points to some f2s webspace. 1and1 use some sort of framed forwarding to point to the space. im conserned that this will prevent my site being properly crawled by any search engines. without transfering my domain to f2s is there anyway of getting my domain to point directly at the site so that users will see www.site.com/index.htm rather then just www.site.com.

i would be gratefull for any help or suggestions.

cheers

stephen

[aos101]

I don't think there is any way to have your domain setup so users will see www.site.com/index.htm without buying hosting for the domain. If you do transfer the domain to F2S you will still need paid hosting to achieve what you want rather than pointing it at free subdomain webspace (that you got with your ADSL).

[defectivehw]

just as a followup i think i have fixed the problem

i have entered the dns details for f2s in my 1&1 control panel. i just need to wait and see if it works

f2s nameserver is:
server0004.freedom2surf.net
ip 194.106.56.34
and our secondary nameserver is:
server0001.freedom2surf.net
ip 194.106.56.46

[aos101]

Is the F2S hosting paid hosting or free subdomain webspace? You can check now if it works by doing an nslookup to see if the the F2S DNS servers have records for your domain (although it sounds like it won't work because you have to have the domain registered with F2S to use F2S webspace). At a command prompt type:
nslookup www.mydomain.com 194.106.56.46

Edit: After some googling I think I've found your domain name. You cannot point your domain at the free subdomain.f2s.com hosting (only redirect using frames like you've already tried). To have the address bar change to show the current page you are on you will need paid hosting. Changing the DNS servers for your domain to the F2S ones is pointless because how do they know that your domain is meant to be served from the subdomain hosting server (they haven't been told plus F2S don't support it)? Change the DNS servers for your domain back to the 1and1 ones and you site should stay working.

[aubs]

You most certainly can use 1&1 to register a domain name name and point it at f2s webspace without any frames poping up from oneandone because I have done it.
try www.sonnekus.co.uk which is registered with 1&1 but no frames etc. To do this choose instant domain for the domain that you want. Then once it is registered in the control panel just edit the destination and forward to the correct space on f2s.
What you I think have been looking at is 1&1 web forwarding (sponsored) which is different because I also have one of of these which does display the frame - it is istant domain registration that you want to be using.
It may also be possible to get rid of the frmae by usig some clever dhtml function perhaps?

[aos101]

Originally Posted by aubs

You most certainly can use 1&1 to register a domain name name and point it at f2s webspace without any frames poping up from oneandone because I have done it.
try www.sonnekus.co.uk which is registered with 1&1 but no frames etc. To do this choose instant domain for the domain that you want. Then once it is registered in the control panel just edit the destination and forward to the correct space on f2s.
What you I think have been looking at is 1&1 web forwarding (sponsored) which is different because I also have one of of these which does display the frame - it is istant domain registration that you want to be using.
It may also be possible to get rid of the frmae by usig some clever dhtml function perhaps?

Your site is using frames, and you can check this by viewing the source code (its just not visible to the user from looking at the page). The effect the user wants is that when they go to www.their-1and1-domain.com and click for example the pictures link the address in the address bar changes to www.their-1and1-domain.com/pictures.html and frame web forwarding does not provide this as your website proves (in IE the address for your site stays the same as you navigate the site, and in Firefox the address changes to something like "http://www.aubsmm.f2s.com/sonnekus/ie/room.htm" which isn't displaying your 1and1 address). I think you are refering to a different problem with 1and1 frames poping up.

[aubs]

sorry yes I did misunderstand I was referring to the frame pop-ups not the address bar text. However you can change the status bar text to anything that you want easily enough but as far as the actual address bar I dont think that is possible. In fact I hope it isnt possible to basically spoof the actual url in the address bar - if you could just think what people could do by spoofing say paypal.com into the address bar!!

[defectivehw]

hmm, its a bit of a pain. its all still new to me.

just as an update aos101, unfortunatly you were correct and the details i used did not work

[paul1664]

You can definitely use 1and1 to point to another domain (ie. f2s webspace) without using frames forwarding. Just change the DNS settings. You need to add your webspace IP address (xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx) to the 'A' record in the 1and1 control panel. Takes up to 24 hours to percolate through the internet but its relatively straighforward.

[aos101]

Originally Posted by paul1664

You can definitely use 1and1 to point to another domain (ie. f2s webspace) without using frames forwarding. Just change the DNS settings. You need to add your webspace IP address (xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx) to the 'A' record in the 1and1 control panel. Takes up to 24 hours to percolate through the internet but its relatively straighforward.

That won't work because the F2S servers use virtual hosts in Apache (if they didin't each website would have to have its own IP address). For that to work the F2S servers need to know that when the site for his domain is requested, they need to send his subdomain website, and the F2S servers know nothing about his domain he's bought from 1and1. Because the F2S servers use virtual hosts in Apache, the servers work out which site to send the user from the HTTP headers sent from the user's browser which contain the domain of the site they want to view. Just changing the 'A' record to the F2S server's IP will mean the user's browser will ask the F2S subdomain website servers for www.his_1and1_domain.com, and since the F2S servers won't have a Apache virtual hosts entry for this domain the'll return an error message saying that site isn't hosted there.

He might be able to forward it without frames straight to his subdomain website, but because it won't use frames the address in the address bar will change to his F2S subdomain address and that isn't what he wants. Really the only solution to meet his requirements is paid hosting, and it isn't really that much a year for a small site.

Originally Posted by aos101

Just changing the 'A' record to the F2S server's IP will mean the user's browser will ask the F2S subdomain website servers for www.his_1and1_domain.com, and since the F2S servers won't have a Apache virtual hosts entry for this domain the'll return an error message saying that site isn't hosted there.

So all he needs to do is ask f2s to add a virtual host entry that maps www.his_1and1_domain.com to his webspace location. However I reckon they are likely to charge something for this.

[paul1664]

I apologise for my crap support :-(

[atsw]

Originally Posted by defectivehw

i have a domain with 1and1 that points to some f2s webspace. 1and1 use some sort of framed forwarding to point to the space. im conserned that this will prevent my site being properly crawled by any search engines.

Just going back to the original concern, I've got three domains which are forwarded to some free web space with another provider. I’ve use framed forwarding for all three, and they are all picked up by google (and all apear on the first look-up page google shows!).

Andrew