The Advantages of a Canadian Domain Name

So, you have decided to start a business online, or want to own a website where you can post your thoughts and your photos. The first thing you will be looking for is a home for your web page, so you will need to register a domain name. In your case, you want it to be known that you are Canadian and as such inspire trust in your product as Canadian. There are country specific suffixes which are almost like having your country flag as an emblem called ccTLD's or country code Top Level domains. Your Canadian suffix would be a .ca domain, which identifies your domain as Canadian and this is what you would like the world to know. 

The Canadian Internet Registration Authority regulates the hiring out of – and the usage of domains in Canada and reserves these domain names according to a set of rules and regulations which are set out to determine if you have the necessary presence requirements to have a Canadian domain. In a nutshell this means the .ca domains are reserved for Canadians, Canadian organizations, Canadian Museums and Canadian indigenous people. This has the advantage of showing your clients or the surfers who view your domain, that you are registered in Canada and thus have a trustworthy business.

Nobody owns a domain name. You can register one for a period of 10 years and renew this on an annual basis, if the name is not taken already. Eventually, if you do not re-register your domain name, it will revert back to the registrar and will be on the market again, so it is important to set up a registration deal, which keeps you abreast of this. Also quite important is keeping your address current so the registrar can reach you and make sure your registering is up to date. You can set your account to auto-renewal, provided your funds allow you to do this. It will ensure that you do not lose years of painstaking work, which can happen if you lose your domain name due to such an oversight. Your registrar is your point of contact for all these matters.

Finding a registrar of domains in Canada is best researched on the internet. Here you have all possibilities and choices at your fingertips and it is easy to secure your domain through one of the online companies that advertise the registering of domains in Canada. For more information please visit domaingroup.ca

http://domaingroup.ca/

How to Position A Domain Name To A Website Hosting Account

If you are a new Internet business owner, you likely have spent a good deal of time trying to determine what domain name will be best for your operations. To this end, you may have taken the steps necessary to determine the availability of a particular domain name. In fact, finding that it is available may have made you very pleased. Not registering the domain name upon your first visit, you return a couple of days later... to find that someone else has registered the domain name you wanted in the interim.

Of course, this all could have been a coincidence. Nonetheless, in this day and age, a more likely possibility may be that another entity actually tracked your search for a particular domain name and intentionally registered that domain name itself. Those entities that are now engaging in this insidious practice are said to be domain name spying. In fact, there now appear to be operations that solely engage in domain name spying.

The reality is that there is nothing new about operators interfering with a bona fide business's attempts to register a domain name. Cybersquatting involves registering a domain name confusingly similar to another trademark and then offering to sell that domain name to the trademark's actual owner for a greatly inflated price. There are other practices that interfere with legitimate attempts to register domain names, including domain name tasting and domain kiting.

Domain name tasting is a process that takes advantage of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) policy that allows a five day grace period in which a domain name can be returned. A domain name taster registers numerous domain names in order to generate advertising income from short term ownership to determine which domain names might be most profitable over the long haul. If the registrant finds that certain domain names don't meet his or her goals, the domain name simply is returned.

Domain kiting actually takes the tasting concept a step further. Through kiting the ICANN grace period is abused. As with domain name tasting, the registrant will return a domain name at the end of the ICANN five day grace period. The different between kiting and tasting is that when the registrant returns the domain name, the registrant will then quickly reacquire the same domain all over again. In short, a registrant engaging in kiting will retain ownership of the domain name in question over an extended period of time and will never pay for that ownership.

Understanding domain name tasting and kiting, a reader can appreciate how domain name spying is an outgrowth of these practices. The difference rests in the fact that domain name spying is intended to target those domain names that someone else or another business enterprise has a specific interest in owning. At this juncture, it is not specifically known how a domain name spy gathers information relating to another business checking on the availability of a domain name.

Some victims of domain name spies may have at least some recourse through trademark and cybersquatting laws. However, if a domain name spy does not violate these laws, a business actually may have no remedy at this juncture.

If you find that you have been victimized while checking the availability of domain names, you probably will end up with two choices:

1. select another domain name

2. pay the domain name spy a premium for the domain name you actually do want

The best way to avoid becoming a victim of domain name spying is to purchase immediately any domain that you may have an interest in. Remember, if you elect not to use a certain domain, you have five days to return that domain name with no charge to you.

http://www.masudco.com/

25 Easy Steps To Recover A Downed Domain (Don’T Panic)

If you are one of the many businesses that have Windows Server 2008, then you may have had the unexpected pleasure of having a Domain Controller fail on you.   Now if you do not know what the domain controller is then you are in for a treat.   The domain controller is only the most important computer within your Windows Server 2008 domain.   But, on the other hand, you may have had a technician install this beast of a computer.   I put this lightly.  The domain controller is a power server but it does not have to be put on a very powerful box.   What you do need to do is make sure that it is redundant.   So, what should we do if the domain controller does go down and we have another domain controller?   Well, first, I want to tip my hat to you.   Not many companies know the importance of having more than one domain controller in their environment.    Let's digress a little.   Why do you want to have multiple domain controllers?   See, the domain controller does several different things.   It has roles such as the Schema master, Domain Naming Master, RID Master, Infrastructure Master and PDC Emulator.   These control the overall environment.   Let's go over some definitions.   Don't go to sleep on me.  We will be getting to the good stuff soon enough.Schema Master

Now you are asking, what is a schema?  The schema is just a database.  If you have used Excel or Access in the past then you have been exposed to a database.   The schema is a database.   Now the schema is composed of Classes which are the Tables and Attributes which are the fields.   So, the Schema Master controls the updates to the schema.   So, you can say that this is relatively important server.   It only controls every entry that we make into the Active Directory Domain Service utility called ADUC which is short for Active Directory Users and Computers.   This role is located on the first domain controller that is added to the Forest by default.   There is only one Schema Master per Forest.  When you update the schema which is known as extending the schema, you need to be in the same Forest as this domain controller.

Domain Naming Master

So, what is the definition of a domain?  A domain is a logical grouping of computers where the domain controller is the central repository for accounts, security and policies.   The Domain Naming Master is in charge of keeping track of the adding and deletion of more domains within the environment.   This role is located on the first domain controller that is added to the Forest default.   There is only one Domain Naming Master in the Forest.

 

PDC Emulator

Remember the old Operating System know as Windows NT 4.0.   It was the predecessor to Windows Server 2008.   Well in the old days which is really little over 10 years, the main domain controller was known as the Primary Domain Controller.   So, that is where this role comes into play.   It takes the place of the Primary Domain Controller.   The main service that it controls is time.   If this puppy is not functioning right then you whole environment will suffer.  This role is located on the first domain controller that is added to the Forest by default.  Now unlike the other roles, the PDC Emulator is located in every domain in the Forest.  But, there is only one per domain.   This is one of the most important servers in the Domain.

RID Master

The unique identifier for a database is known as the primary key.  Well the primary key that provides uniqueness within Active Directory Domain Services is the SID which is known as the Security ID.   The RID Master controls the RID Pool for the domain.  The RID is the Relative Identifier.   When we run out of RIDs then we will not be able to add additional security principals such as accounts.   Here is a tip do not recover this server.   If you bring this server on at the same time as another RID server then you will have a majorly messed up domain.   This role is located in every domain in the forest but only one per domain.

Infrastructure Master

This is an odd animal.  The main purpose of the Infrastructure Master is tracking movement within the domain.  This needs some clarification.  We are not talking about Big Brother.  Well, maybe.   The Infrastructure Master tracks the moving of an object (account) from one OU (Organizational Unit) to another or domain.   Now the reason I call this an odd animal is because it should not be on the same server as the Global Catalog.   Ok, I know we are about to go over the threshold limit of the human mind.   But, the Global Catalog has a copy of every attribute in the Forest.   This will be covered in another article.   Back the Infrastructure Master, this role is also located in every domain and there is only one per domain.

Whew, I know that is a lot to remember.  But this is important.  See, remember our problem…. The domain is down.   If you only have one domain controller is contains all of these roles.   HELLO, can you see where we are going with this.   Make sure you have more than one domain controller per domain.  Ok, here is another topic.  Replication.  No this is not cloning but similar.  The domain controllers in the Forest replicate there information to each other.   This introduces another term multi-master replication.    This just means that they have the same settings as the other guys.   Anyway, we come into work and find that the #1 domain controller has bit the dust.   Don't panic we can fix this.   Take a coffee break and realign your thought process.  

So, we have a pretty bad situation.  Users cannot logon; email server is down, yada yada yada.   So, here is the good stuff.    How do we get our domain back up and functioning?   Call me of course.   Just kidding.   This article is here to instruct you on how to recover from this disaster.   Before can do this we need to use one of two tools ADUC (Active Directory Users and Computers) or ntdsutil.   Of the tool tools, ntdsutil will allow us to everything that we need to do.   Ok, are you ready…..

To the Rescue Recovering From Disaster

Step 1.  Go to the second domain controller  (will Call this Jupiter)

         Logon with administrative credentials

Step 2.  Bring up the command prompt 

 Type cmd at the run command prompt  or access it from the Accessories menu under Programs on the menu

Step 3.  Type ntdsutil at the command prompt and press Enter

Step 4.  Type roles at the ntdsutil prompt and press Enter

Step 5.  Type connections at the roles prompt and press Enter

Step 6.  Type connect to server  Jupiter at the connections prompt and press Enter 

         You will be presented with a message saying you are connected and using current credentials

Step 7.  Type quit at the connections prompt and press Enter

 This will return you to the roles section

Step 8.  Type seize Schema Master at the roles prompt and press Enter 

 This will take over the Schema Master role and give it to Jupiter.  

Step 9.  Type seize Naming Master at the roles prompt and press Enter 

 This will take over the Domain Naming Master role and give it to Jupiter

Step 10. Type seize PDC at the roles prompt and press Enter 

 This will take over the PDC Emulator and give it to Jupiter

Step 11.  Type seize RID master at the roles prompt and press Enter 

 This will take over the RID Master and give it to Jupiter

Step 12.  Type seize infrastructure master at the roles prompt and press Enter

Right now you are probably saying that is a lot of steps.   We are complete with the first part.  WHAT, there is more?  Hold on don't get ansy this will have take only about 5 hours.  Just kidding.  This whole process will take about 10-20 minutes.   You will be the savior of the network.   All righty then, on to the next part.   By the way, the steps that are shown can be re-ordered when it comes to seizing.   The commands are not case sensitive either.  

Cleanup Time

Now in the beginning of the article, I pointed out each of the different roles and their purpose.   Well we forcibly took over the roles.   The other domain controller is still offline but still theoretically has those roles.   If we were to bring that domain controller up again there would be major confusion.   Also, Active Directory Domain Services does not know who to replicate changes.   The KCC (Knowledge Consistency Check) is looking for the partner.  The partner is no longer available.   We need to clean up this mess and quickly.

Step 13. Type quit at the roles prompt and press Enter 

         This will take us back to the beginning.

Step 14. Type metadata cleanup at the ntdsutl prompt and press Enter 

 This routine will get rid of the SRV records lingering in DNS and also records of the other domain 

controller in Active Directory Domain Services database the Schema.

Step 15. Type select operation target at the metadata cleanup prompt and press Enter 

 We need to identify the downed domain controller.

Step 16. Type list sites at the select operation target prompt and press Enter 

 This will list the sites within the Forest

Step 17. Type the # associated with the Site which the downed domain controller is part and press Enter 

 This will select the site which has the records for the downed domain controller

Step 18. Type list servers in the site at the select operation target prompt and press Enter 

 This will list the domain controllers  that are in the Site

Step 19. Type the # associated with domain the down domain controller and press Enter 

 This will select the domain with the downed domain controller

Step 20. Type quit at the select operation target and press Enter 

 This will take you back to the Metadata Cleanup section

Step 21. Type remove selected server at the metadata cleanup prompt and press Enter 

 This will remove the records within Active Directory Domain Services

Step 22. Type quit at the metadata cleanup prompt and press Enter 

 Takes you back to the beginning of ntdsutils

Step 23. Type quit at the ntdsutil prompt and press Enter

 Quits the ntdsutil utility

Step 24. Check ADUC , DNS etc

 Ensure that you can open ADUC.  You may have to change focus of the domain controller.  

Step 25. Take old domain controller off line and reinstall Windows Server 2008 and dcpromo it

Wow, what an ordeal.  Just think if you did not have another domain controller within your Forest.   Do yourself a favor and make sure you have more than one domain controller in your environment.    There is a lot more that we can teach you.  But, we will leave that for another article.   Right now, go get that cup of coffee, high five your staff and relax.  Your domain is back up and running.  Now go change some passwords and play Halo at your desk.  Oops, did I say that.  See you later.

http://www.ideadudes.biz/

Think Before You Purchase Domain Names

Here we will try to give you some tips that may be help you to purchase domain names you need.

Purchase domain names in the extension that is as much relative to your business organizational model as possible. For example, .ca means your business is based in Canada and .de clearly explains your German location. However, there are global domains, such as .com or .net.

Be careful when choosing a domain name registration service provider. Some of them are scammers and after you tell them the name you want to register, they do it themselves and then make you buy it from them. They may also charge you for more money than you though from the initial offer. Do some research - scammers are usually mentioned at least once on the Internet. Telephone support availability is a good sign your domain name registration service provider is a serious business and it is simply comfortable to settle up problems instantly by placing a call. Besides that, look for accreditations, for example from ICANN. Serious companies try to gain as much accreditations as possible so that it improves their image and guarantees their security. If a domain registration service doesn't have any accreditations, it shouldn't be considered to be a scam or alike, but it is a warning sign.

Try using keywords when choosing your domain name. Some search engines, like Google for example, do take keywords in the domain name into account so this may help you rank a little bit higher in search results. However, choose the shortest name possible so that it is easy to spell and remember.

 

Make sure you purchase domain names that are not potentially dangerous to be sued for. Avoid trademarks infringement and don't try to squat someone's domains. This is simply not fair and may cause problems.

If the domain name you want is available in several extensions, we recommend you to consider buying as much of them as possible so that no one can take advantage of your success.

Let's imagine you've found a company you like. Hit Google to search for example for "domain registration" or "domain names purchase". If you find information about the company your chose in the first several pages of results, it means the company has been operating in domain registration business for quite a long period of time. If you can't find any traces of the company in search results and/or observe it only in AdWords, for instance, this is just another reason to check everything once again.

Therefore, when you purchase domain names, remember to go through careful planning and research. Choose the companies you trust not only because you want to. Register domain names that will appeal to your visitors and won't infringe someone's rights...