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Domains

In short

Hosting and domain are two separate things - you usually need both for your website or the service you've booked with us to be reachable in the browser.

Own domain?

Don't have your own domain yet? Feel free to register [your domain with us].(https://ossrox.org/cart.php?a=add&domain=register)!

After ordering, many customers ask: "I only wanted to book hosting with you - why am I now being asked to set up a domain or DNS records?" This page briefly explains what a domain is and what this is all about.

What is a domain?​

You can think of hosting and domain like an apartment and an address:

  • The hosting (or the service or website) is the "apartment" - the storage space where your website or service (e.g. Nextcloud) actually lives.
  • The domain (e.g. your-domain.com) is the "address" - what needs to be entered in the browser to reach your "apartment".

Both usually have to be ordered and managed separately. If you've only booked hosting with us but not yet a domain, then exactly this "address" pointing to your hosting is missing.

Why am I being asked to set up DNS?​

For your domain to actually lead to your hosting with us, certain DNS records need to be set (more on this on the DNS Settings page). This request doesn't mean something is wrong with your order - it just means this linking step is still missing, either because:

  • you have a domain with another provider and still need to point its DNS records to us yourself, or
  • you don't have a domain yet and need to reserve one first.

I don't have a domain yet - what now?​

You can conveniently order a domain with us. If you order the domain with us, we take care of the DNS setup for you, so it automatically points to your hosting.

Alternatively, you can register a domain with another provider. In that case, you'll need to create the matching DNS records there yourself - the DNS Settings page explains which records exist. After ordering, you'll also see the DNS records you need to set in your customer account, where you can also have them checked for correctness.

Support​

Do you have questions about your domain or hosting? We're happy to help.