Domain pointer/DNS Forwarding? Confused..

Hi,

I have looked through the various posts here but I have managed to confuse myself and was hoping someone here could help.

I have the following setup: I have a "mycompany.NET" domain that was registered through DiscountASP.Net and is pointing at a DNN website hosted with DASP.Net. I also have a "mycompany.COM" domain registered with another hoster that is currently redirecting to my "mycompany.NET" domain.

The problem is that I don't want my users to see the "mycompany.NET" domain in the address bar (which is happening with the current redirect I've set up) - I want them to see the "mycompany.COM" one instead, as well as any subdirectories (e.g. "mycompany.NET/subdir/page.aspx" becomes "mycompany.COM/subdir/page.aspx").

My questions:

1. Looking at the forum posts here, I think I need to set up a Domain Pointer through DiscountASP.Net with my "mycompany.COM" domain. Is that correct? What are the impacts of this (see point below)?
2. The hosting company that currently holds my "mycompany.COM" domain is also handling our mail exchange servers and I do NOT want to disrupt the company's email system as I'd like to keep my job. If I do end up setting a domain pointer up, is it possible to "separate" the web from the email so that the other hosting company continues to host the email without any interruptions while the web URL points at my DNN website on DiscountASP.Net?
3. What about DNS forwarding? What is the difference between this and Domain Pointers and which is best for my purposes given the issue with the email hosting? Would something else be better?
4. Are there any good step-by-step guides for whatever solution turns out to be the best one?

Thanks in advance for any help you can give me..

 

DNS forwarding is not commonly used to redirect a single URL, it's usually used to maintain a local DNS cache on a large network (to avoid an "outside" DNS lookup for every request). If you did implement it for a single domain, the mx (mail) requests would also be forwarded. You may be thinking of URL forwarding, or some other service that are typically offered by domain registrars.

If you set up a domain pointer here you would have to change the nameservers to point to us, which would also break your mail. The easiest thing to try would be a URL forwarding type service if your domain registrar offers it. That could forward just the web traffic without disrupting your existing mail set up. But you should check with the registrar first, as there are different methods used to accomplish the "forwarding." But you will likely lose the domain name after the forwarding happens. Meaning abc.com forwarded to xyz.com is going to default back to xyz.com after the forwarding.

If you didn't have the mail variable in there it would be relatively easy, but I'm afraid that maintaining mail elsewhere complicates the situation.

 

Thanks for the reply. I have been speaking to a colleague and he mentioned that I may be able to do something with my ".com" hosting company setting up a CNAME alias to my site that is hosted with you. Apparently this would mean my customers see the ".com" domain even though the site is hosted under a ".net" domain name.

Is this correct? Would it achieve what I want to happen, or can you suggest something else? Can you tell me if you allow this kind of aliasing, as my colleague also mentioned that he'd had problems with some hosting companies allowing this?

Thanks.

 

That could work if your account here has a unique IP. By default our accounts use shared IPs.

You can get a unique IP by ordering the Unlimited Subdomain add-on.

 

OK, I've checked and my account does have this add-on, so I suppose we could try that. Just in case there are any problems with this, are there any other options available to me that do what I want?

Thanks again for all your help..