The purchase of your domain name is the first step to start online. With your domain in hand, it's time to start building your online existence. If you bought a domain name to create a website, you also need a hosting account. ArkHost offers excellent hosting plans for beginners that will make hosting and setting up your site a breeze.
However, there are still a few things that need to be done before you have your piece of online real estate. This is often a struggle for beginners, but let's simplify the process by covering the aspects we need.
Considering you have an active Domain Name and Web Hosting package on ArkHost, you want to make sure you have a functional website and E-mail.
First, we need to make sure that the domain points to the correct server; on the server, your web space is available. This configuration is done on your Domain's DNS Zone. Following records will be needed.
- A record (Address Record) to point to your webspace.
- CNAME record (Alias Record) for www to point to your Address Record.
- MX record (Mail Exchanger) is the part of the Domain Name System (DNS) that provides information about the mail server that uses your domain name.
- SPF TXT record. An SPF record lists all authorized hostnames / IP addresses permitted to send an email on behalf of your domain. The Sender Policy Framework (SPF) is an email authentication technique that is used against email spoofing.
When ordering a new Web Hosting package, you always provide a domain name that you Register, Transfer, or you already own; when the order is done, and the Web hosting package is created, an Addon Domain is created. The following step will be required when you want to link a new domain to an active Web Hosting package.
From the DirectAdmin navigation, Account Manager, Domain Setup.
Add a new domain as long as your hosting package limits allow it.
Because we take security very seriously, let us generate a free certificate immediately to ensure that the website we will set up will be immediately accessed over an encrypted connection.
From the DirectAdmin navigation, Account Manager, SSL Certificates, select the Get automatic certificate from ACME Provider.
Select the certificates you want to issue. Make sure you have a valid A record pointing to the host, otherwise the process will fail.
Now we're ready to start hosting our website.
We will cover three possible options to get started quickly for this last and next step.
Option #1:
Get started with the Softaculous 1-click Auto Installer (Choose an Application and Install it)
Option #2:
Install WordPress with the WordPress Manager - Available in DirectAdmin > Softaculous
Option #2:
Get started with our Website Builder
