KingNoob wrote:Hey,
May I ask? If I need to create a DNS zone file on any free DNS hosting, do I need to register on a registar or just go to the DNS hosting area, and create my records?
Please respond, because I am very confused.
You don't need a domain name zone file if you are only using a numbered IP.
The Internet will find your home based web server by typing in your IP only - for example
http://123.123.123.123 will find your server if it is running.
If you wanted to use a domain name or a subdomain name then you have to tie your IP to that domain name or subdomain name and let the Internet know that your IP is now using a domain name or sub domain name to access your web server.
You would register a domain name with a domain name registrar if you wanted your very own domain name - for example kingnoob.com
Then you would have a domain name service manage your DNS zone file for kingnoob.com so your domain name tied to your IP can be accessed from around the Internet by typing
http://kingnoob.com in a browser.
Normally this would be done on your own server with bind (Berkeley Internet Name Daemon) if you had it installed (use Google for more info on bind).
Most shared hosting servers, VPS and dedicated servers run their own DNS using bind.
Most home PC based web servers use a free DNS service like zoneedit.com, freedns.afraid.org and noip.com to manage the DNS zone file for them.
If you don't want your own domain name then most of the free DNS services (except for zoneedit.com I believe) have free sub domains that you can use instead.
FreeDNS for example have a large list of domain names you can select from and add your own subdomain to - for example afraid.org is a main domain from that list that you can add your sub domain to like kingnoob so it would become kingnoob.afraid.org and remember that domain names and subdomain names should always be lowercase.
They then manage the DNS zone file for that subdomain kingnoob.afraid.org for you.
Using their web site's control panel you insert the IP address of your home server.
So when you type
http://kingnoob.afraid.org in a browser the Internet knows, using a series of regularly automatically updated DNS caches, to send those requests to your home PC's web server.
http://freedns.afraid.org/ has a good explanation on their home page why to use their service.
I hope this post has helped to alleviate some of the confusion for you.