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How to use a domain name with a iweb Mobile Me website

These instructions are just as applicable to web.mac.com users but we have used web.me.com as the example. On July 10th, 2008, after the release of MobileMe, the me.com domain is used for MobileMe pages. Since many customers created webpages under .Mac, the web.mac.com domain is still available so that these customers do not need to distribute a new web address to their visitors. For more information visit http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1932

"Thank you so much for sorting things out for me. It is all up and running now and I am so excited!!!! I battled to get it up and running for two weeks! Cannot thank you enough for your help." Julie, Australia

The instructions below details the various methods to direct your domain name to your MobileMe website, including the option, where your domain name will resolve both with and without the www in front of your domain name.  eg http://www.yourdomainname.com/Site/Welcome.html and http://yourdomainname.com/Site/Welcome.html . Most people use the easy method of forwarding their domain name but by using the zone file method, your MobileMe website will hide the fact that you are using MobileMe service and all the pages on your website will have your domain name in the URL.

Step 1:

If you have used the iweb application to create your MobileMe website, and you want to use your domain name to your MobileMe website,  you will firstly need to register a domain name or if you have already registered a domain, you can transfer your domain name to us (please note: you cannot transfer a global domain name for 60 days from registration or renewal - this rule is set out by ICANN). Not all domain name registrars offer you the ability to edit your zone files or use domain name forwarding for FREE. Some may not offer the service at all.

The official instructions provided by Apple suggest that you need to

 "Go to your registrar's website. Define web.me.com  as the "www" CNAME (alias) for your domain." Our online system, will allow you to do this BUT please note, if you follow Apple's official instructions, only the www of your domain name will resolve. Your domain name without the www record will not resolve to your MobileMe account. It will come up with "page cannot be displayed", we have provided an unofficial fix to this problem below.

Do I use CName alias or Domain Forwarding or Zone File Method to redirect my domain name web.me.com website?

Using Domain Name Fowarding to resolve a domain name to Apple Mac MobileMe website

1. Register or transfer your existing domain name to Passion Computing. Click here to register a new domain name or click here for instructions on transferring an existing domain name. (please note, that if you have recently registered or rewewed a global domain name ie .com,.net,.org , you will not be able to transfer the domain name to us for 60 days from the date of registration. These rules are set out by ICANN, the central registry.) Domain name clients who cannot transfer their domain name across, can only utilize domain name forwarding with us, by purchasing a business email hosting plan, which comes with free domain forwarding. You will need to contact us for instructions on how to do this, because you will not have login access to order business email hosting directly from the website and we will need to order this hosting product for you before you have login access.
2. After your domain name is registered or transferred to Passion Computing, you will receive a username and password to order the free domain name forwarding for your domain name. Login to order domain name forwarding and when it is activated, you will need to enter the dot Mac destination URL. To find the destination URL, go to your iweb application (web site design application) if you click on file, then 'visit published site', your destination url will appear in the bottom of the window and also in the address bar at the top. Read the full instructions, domain forwarding (Do NOT tick the box "Choose Only DNS" when ordering domain name forwarding). Do you want to use, email with your domain name? Consider ordering our email hosting service that will allow you to redirect your domain name to your web.me.com website while being able to use an email address that uses your domain name. You can login and order email hosting and follow the instructions on setting up email.
3. You can choose between standard domain name forwarding and framed forwarding. Standard domain name forwarding will redirect your domain name to web.me.com URL. Framed forwarding hides the web.me.com destination URL but hiding your website behind a frame means that only your homepage can be indexed by search engines.
4. If you have transferred a domain name in, you will need to ensure that your Name Server records have been set to the name servers below. (All new domain name registrations have the name server records correctly set.) Most people miss this last important step and domain name forwarding WILL NOT work unless you delegate the name servers, to the hostnames and ip addresses listed below.

5. 	Host Name	ip address
   primary name server	brigh.twoplums.com.au	202.47.4.136
   secondary name server	mutley.twoplums.com.au	72.3.132.132

6. Wait. Do not visit your domain name for at least an hour after your name server records have been redelegated. If you are anxious about whether or not you have correctly set up domain name forwarding, log in and check the name server records fields are set correctly and go to 'hosting control panel' and check that the URL entered is correct by cutting and pasting the address into your browser window. If these two details are correct, then you should see your domain name redirect to your dot Mac website within the hour.

Editing the www CName record in your zone file for your domain name to web.me.com

The advantage of using CName to redirect your domain name, is that your domain name will be fully indexed under www.yourdomainname.com , so all the pages will be listed under your domain name, however only the www plus your domain name will resolve if using Apple's official instructions (read below for alternative instructions), the http://yourdomainname.com (without the www) will come up with "page not found."

1. Register or transfer your existing domain name to Passion Computing. Click here to register a new domain name or click here for instructions on transferring an existing domain name. (please note, that if you have recently registered or rewewed a global domain name ie .com,.net,.org , you will not be able to transfer the domain name to us for 60 days from the date of registration. These rules are set out by ICANN, the central registry.) Domain name clients who cannot transfer their domain name across, can only utilize domain name forwarding with us, by purchasing a business email hosting plan, which comes with free advanced DNS management. You will need to contact us for instructions on how to do this, because you will not have login access to order business email hosting directly from the website and we will need to order this hosting product for you before you have login access.
2. After your domain name is registered or transferred to Passion Computing, you will receive a username and password. To order advanced DNS management. login to http://domains.passioncomputing.com.au , click "Add Services" next to your domain name, Order "URL forwarding/DNS Management" and  make sure that you tick the box "Choose Only DNS" when ordering advanced DNS management. See  Free advanced DNS management.for full instructions. Do you want to use, email with your domain name? Consider ordering our email hosting service that will allow you to resolve your domain name to your web.me.com website while being able to use an email address that uses your domain name. You can login and order email hosting and follow the instructions on setting up email. However, you will need to edit your zone files, so that you create 2 A Name records that resolve to 17.250.248.156. Since, these are not Apple's official instructions, it does carry the risk that should Apple change their ip address for web.me.com, your website will stop working. If you are interested, please contact us after you have transferred your domain name, for a free 30 day email hosting trial, that comes with the ability to edit your zone files.
3. Once you are able to edit your zone files. You can opt for the following zone edits

Option 1: CName alias method

The official Apple instructions. The reason why Apple has users create a CName record and not A name records is because if they change their servers and ip addresses, they do not have to notify MobileMe users.

You need to create a CName record to look like

• www    CName  web.me.com. (add the dot at the end of web.me.com.) Unfortunately, this method means that your website will not resolve to your MobileMe website if you do not include the www plus your domain name.

Option 2: Zone File Method

The Unofficial instructions to resolve  your domain name to your MobileMe website. Note that whenever Apple changes the IP number of web.me.com, you have to find out the new ip address or else your domain name will not resolve correctly.

If you wish to have your domain name with and without the www resolve to your MobileMe website, then you need to

• create:  two A records for @ and for www pointed to the IP of your site (      A name 17.250.248.156 and www A name 17.250.248.156)

After several emails to Apple, we were able to get a response from MobileMe

"Using the IP address in the way you mentioned in your second email is a valid alternative method, should the registrar not permit the use of the domain without the www."  Mark MobileMe Support Specialist.

So although, Apple do not provide the ip address in their instructions, you can use the above instructions to resolve your domain name to your MobileMe website.

Note: if you have transferred a domain name in, you will need to ensure that your Name Server records have been set to, before changes you have made to your zone files will work.

Login to MobileMe

Then you need to log in to MobileMe. Go to www.me.com . Click on the Accounts button, top left hand side window.Click Personal Domains in the side bar. Click Add Domain. Add Your Domain Name, including the extension. Click Continue and then Done.

Lastly

Wait. Do not visit your domain name for at least an hour after your name server records have been redelegated. If you are anxious about whether or not you have correctly set up your CName alias correctly, log in and check the name server records fields are set correctly and then go to 'zone files' and check that the Cname alias for www is correctly set to web.me.com and for option 2, you have one A name record pointing to web.me.com ip address.Then login to MobileMe and check that your domain name has been entered correctly into their system. If these details are correct, then you should see your domain name resolve to your dot Mac website within the hour, unless you have visited your domain name and your computer or ISP is holding the old name server records in memory (cache) and then you will need to wait 24 hours before you see your domain name working.

Please remember that by using the CName alias to redirect to your MobileMe website - only the www will work. If you enter your domain name without the www, your domain name will not resolve to your website. You need to have two A name record pointing to the web.me.com ip address for your domain name without www to work.

FAQs

What is the differences between iLife, iWeb, iWork, and MobileMe?

MobileMe is an annual subscription service that offers multiple Internet-based benefits, such as email, online storage, web publishing, data syncing, and more. You can find a list of the features of MobileMe at the following web page:

MobileMe Features http://www.apple.com/mobileme/features/

iLife is a suite of software for managing photos and creating movies, music, and websites. iWeb is part of this suite, along with iPhoto, iMovie, and several other applications. You can find out more about this software suite and its contents here:

iLife Features http://www.apple.com/ilife/

iWork is a suite of office productivity software. This suite includes Pages, Numbers, and Keynote. These programs offer word processing, spreadsheets, and presentations respectively. You can find more details about the features of this software suite here:

iWork http://www.apple.com/iwork/

Do I need an Apple Computer to use MobileMe?

Web publishing is possible from any computer that meets the MobileMe system requirements. You can find these requirements at the following link:http://www.apple.com/mobileme/pricing/

The important thing to note is that use of the MobileMe web interface, which includes uploading to the iDisk among other features, is dependent on the browser used regardless of whether the customer uses Mac OS X or Windows. The only web publishing program that is supported for publishing to MobileMe is iWeb. However, other web publishing programs can be used to create webpages, which can then be uploaded directly to the iDisk, where customer files are stored. The following article describes the process in detail. How to publish a custom website http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2637

Does Apple provide support for MobileMe?

All MobileMe members are entitled to contact MobileMe support for assistance as part of their membership, should they need detailed help using any feature of MobileMe.

Do Passion Computing provide support for domain names?

Yes, if you are using Apple's MobileMe and your domain name is transferred or registered with us, and you have problems getting your domain name to correctly resolve then by all means, email us and we will assist you with your zone files and name server updates. Please let us know if you want to use domain name forwarding method (framed/standard) or editing the zone file method.

Note: You will need to login to MobileMe to ensure that you have followed all the instructions but we will ensure that your domain name records are correctly set. With a full suite of domain name extensions to choose from you can have an Australian domain with your MobileMe website, Asian domain, UK domain, EU domain, NZ domain, Global domain, For full list of available domains, see Domain Name Prices

If you intend to use the Zone File Method, and want to use a country domain, you need to log in to MobileMe. Go to www.me.com . Click on the Accounts button, top left hand side window.Click Personal Domains in the side bar. Click Add Domain. Add Your Domain Name, including the extension. Click Continue and then Done. You need to make sure that you can add the domain name with the country code extension, otherwise the zone file method will not work. Contact MobileMe support, if in doubt but you will definitely be able to use domain name forwarding with any domain name registered. There is no charge for domain name forwarding or zone file editing, which come free with all domain names registered or transferred to Passion Computing.

Is there any additional charges except for domain name registration and renewal, to use the advanced DNS management or domain forwarding with my domain name?

Domain forwarding both framed and standard, and advanced DNS management are free services that come with all domain name registrations and transfers. Please note that you are unable to transfer your global domain name to us for a period of 60 days after registration or renewal.