How does webiste registration/maintenance work?

[CeeBee]

How does website registration/maintenance work?

Hi guys, hoping some of u guys in the business can maybe enlighten me as to how the system/process of websites work?
Our marketing lady is trying to change our website, infact she wants to change the company who manages the website, sound like the 'old' company is not doing good job (?)
Unfortunately I have zero idea how the whole system of website registration/management works. My idea has always been that u get a company like IS to register the web address, and then u get somebody else to design and maintain the actual site, which is 'linked' to the ip address that IS registers to the website name/address

From what I understand from our marketing lady is that the new company cannot get access to change the website, coz the 'old' company doesn't want to allow, and there seems to be an issue with IS allowing changes, etc, etc, etc.
I am quite confused!, I'm sure there is some misunderstanding here, and I have a too twisted idea of how the whole thing works.
I can understand that Internet Solutions will have a problem with just opening up a website to anybody, but how do they fit in the picture with regards to the actual website?

If u could perhaps give me a small outline of how the system / process actually works, I would really appreciate!
All I know is, u want to see a website, u put in the address/ip no, the system looks for the name, and u see the webpage, but what goes on behind the scenes??? What is the relationship between Internet Solutions and the guys who do the webdesign/maintenance?
Does IS host the server and the designers access it on IS servers?

 

[ubercal]

Getting a website up and running requires 3 things

1. The phyical hosting of the website on a web server
2. The domain registration ie to register a co.za u need to contact Uniforum
3. The domain hosting on a DNS Server - This can be any ISP or person with enough technical ablilites to setup a DNS Server.Even a home user can setup a dns server at home.

U register domain 1st . then u get the web hosting sorted out next.

Note - some companies only do domain registrations or website hosting , while most will do the domain registration and web hosting together

Its possible to have 1 company host your domain , while another company hosts your website

 

[Byrd]

Hi Ceebee. It sounds to me like what is happening is that the old company is not allowing the new company to take control of your domain registration. When a domain registration changes, tickets are sent out to the "registered" owners of the website. You need to logon to www.co.za

Do a whois query on your domain name. See who the domain is registered to. If it is not registered to your comany and is registered to the "old company" you can then sue their asses. Otherwise find where all the tickets are going.

Your "new company" should be able to sort this out though and guide you through the process. That is what they are getting payed for.

 

[andres101]

The info above is correct, but might sound confusing, so to recap:

Uniforum handles domain registrations. You can see your whois (Who Is) records by going to whois.co.za and typing in your domain name.

When you register a domain, you specify the DNS servers (section 6). When someone enters your domain name in their browser, your whois record is queried to find your domains DNS servers. Those DNS servers are then queried for an IP address. The browser then connects to that IP address and requests the page. A hosting provider will usually host your DNS records and website.

If you want to change your DNS hosting provider, you will need to send an update to UniForum with the new DNS servers. When they receive the update, they will send out an email to the email addresses listed in sections 2, 4 and 5 asking whether to allow the update or not. At least one person needs to allow the update and nobody should deny it for it to go through.

If someone doesn't want to let the update go through, have a look at the legal faq.

 

[CeeBee]

thanx for the help & info guys, let see if we can take it further, at least now i have some understanding,
although looking at the whois on our name, is still confusing, lots of name that I don't recognise, I'll mar send it on to the chick who does the marketing, and has the problems to try change the site designer/maintenance.

by the way, how do u change a thread's heading/subject? I see i got some spelling issues there.... dislexia-R-us!
I tried edit, but it only allows changing of the post...

edit... nevermind I found it, under advanced edit

 

[RSkeens]

Hi CeeBee,

I am quite confused!, I'm sure there is some misunderstanding here, and I have a too twisted idea of how the whole thing works.

Welcome to the world of ancient domain handling and archaic processing methods. I often battle to get custody over a client's domain handled by a different provider, simply because they are unwilling to "let it go".

If push comes to shove, your best bet is to call the old provider and ask them directly about the change. If they still refuse, you will probably need to seek legal advice, but do tell us on the forum how the process turns out for you.

Good luck!

 

[CeeBee]

managed to get it fixed (hope!)
the 'old' hoster called it quits, they called up IS and told them to remove the address pointing to them, thats also why the website is unavailable...
I'm not sure why exactly our marketing chick wanted to change host company, sounds like spitefullness from ex hoster to me tho.
So IS says we're free to get new host co.
Hopefully the new guys can now get working on it.
We should still have the files that made up the webpages, so hopefully the new guys don't need to redesign whole thing... although that might not be such a bad thing, time for a fresh look!

 

[RSkeens]

We should still have the files that made up the webpages, so hopefully the new guys don't need to redesign whole thing... although that might not be such a bad thing, time for a fresh look!

Congratulations! Maybe the old host saw this thread together with "legal advice" - causing them to have a change of heart

 

[Freshy-ZN]

IS handles .org.za domains doesnt it?