This saga started when I finally decided to obtain my own domain name. While choosing a name wasn't particularly difficult (there's not many simple names left), I wanted to host the domain at home using crimson, my ancient Compaq Deskpro 120 (running FreeBSD), as the server. This meant many of the really cheap registration offers were not much use, as they only provided hosting and email redirection.
Digging around a little more, I discovered Dyndns.org, which provides DNS services for free, if you define a name in their own domains, and $30 for an outside domain. I then stumbled on ukreg.com (this was from performing a whois on the owner of a domain name I fancied), which allowed one to specify alternate name servers, and charged 6.95 pounds for a two year .org.uk registration.
Putting these two together, my domain name cost around £24. I first bought the Custom DNS service from Dyndns.org, and entered my desired domain name. I then completed the registration form with ukreg.com. I'm not sure what would have happened if the domain name had disappeared by the time I requested registration. I guess I would have had to delete the original entry and tried to identify a new, free domain for my use. That wasn't the case however, and in 24 hours my new domain, hydrus.org.uk, was available for use.
This journal entry is split into a number of pages:
Building the Server
Sendmail Configuration
The Urge to Meddle
DHCP clients and /etc/resolv.conf
Loose Ends
