You have several choices in registering domain names:

• Creating new *.com, *.net, or *.org domains
• Transferring existing domains or registering nonstandard domains
• Creating domains based on your provider's domain names (third level domains)
• Hosting sites without domain names
• Parking external domains

To add a new domain name to your account, select Add New Domain in the user menu:

You will be taken to the Domain Name Registration page. It has several domain name registration forms for different types of domains.

To create a new standard domain (.com, .net, or .org), enter your desired domain name into the field in the first form omitting the www part:

To its right, select domain category: .com, org, or .net, then enter your contact and billing information. Based on these data, the system will generate a domain registration request and submits it to OpenSRS, a major domain registration company. For more information, refer to http://www.opensrs.org/faq.shtml.

To transfer an existing domain or register a nonstandard domain with your account, use the second form:

If you are creating a regional domain (e.g. your_domain.uk) or would like to use a different domain registration company, no automation is provided. Thus, first you need to make sure that you have a valid domain name. Enter it into the lower box, omitting the www. part.

Following the registration you will get an e-mail notification with the information to send to your domain name registration company. They will make appropriate changes on the root DNS servers, and within a couple of days your domain will be accessible at the new IP address. In the meantime, your site will be available by the instant domain alias.

Domain registration is a standard procedure. First, you purchase a domain name from a domain registration company. Second, you register this domain name with your web-hosting provider and get your new IP address. Third, you send this IP address to your domain registration company, where it is set as the IP address for your domain name. It is only then that your site becomes available to all Internet community. This is true both of standard and nonstandard domains. In case of standard domain names, however, the registration process is automated.

Creating Domains Based on Your Provider's Domain Names (Third Level Domains)

Third level domains are registered on your provider's DNS server. You don't need to register a third level domain with a domain registration company. If you choose to create a third level domain, it will contain your provider's domain name. E.g. if your provider's domain name is besthosting.com, and the third level domain you are registering is mythirdlevel, the fully qualified domain name would be mythirdlevel.besthosting.com.

Third level domain registration is available only if it is allowed under the selected plan. Functionally, third level domains have same features as second level domains.

To register a third level domain name, enter the desired domain name in the Domain name field. From the box on the right, select provider's domain name where you would like to create the third level domain:

Hosting Sites Without Domain Names

You can also host sites without domain names (the so-called stop-gap domains). When you create a stopgap domain, you get no DNS zone, and you cannot use e-mail service. However, you will be able to access and manage your site using the instant domain alias you get at signup.

Stopgap domains support web site management and FTP services. Also, you can have IP-only access if you get a dedicated IP.

To create a stopgap domain, just click the Submit button in the Stopgap domain registration form:

Parking External Domains

This feature allows you to use H-Sphere DNS server to map IPs to domain names serviced and hosted on other servers (not those of H-Sphere). In this case, a DNS zone is created with a custom DNS A record for the domain name and its IP is entered in the form below: