I am going to host a website on a desktop computer connected to a broadband (always on) connection and I read that I need to forward port 80 so that remote computers%26#039; traffic isn%26#039;t directed to the other computers on my network. If I forward port 80 to one computer, will the others lose there ability to connect to the internet?
Also, I don%26#039;t know if I can ask multiple questions in one, but these are related. How do I associate a domain name I register with, say, GoDaddy, with my home external IP? I also read that you have to use DynDNS because ISPs change your external every so often, but I don%26#039;t know that you can use a DynDNS account with a website that isn%26#039;t one they already registered i.e. yoursite.theirsite.net.
Thanks|||Yes. Port-forwarding will send any traffic that comes to your router%26#039;s external (global) IP, destined for that port to a specific host on your network. It won%26#039;t affect the traffic of other users on your network, unless of course they wanted to host a website on their machine as well.
A general solution to point a domain name to your IP is to go through a domain name hosting service. Zoneedit.com offers a free DNS hosting service. When you sign up with an account at Zoneedit, they will tell you to go and configure their nameservers (at least 2) in your Godaddy account. This will get propogated to nameservers throughout the Internet (it takes upto a couple days for propogation throughout the Internet). In your zoneedit.com account, an %26#039;A%26#039; record will map a name directly to an IP.
Yes, Dyndns only allows you to use their name (at least w/ their free service). I believe there are some paid solutions that exist, which will allow you to dynamically map your name to your IP. Your router probably has a dyndns setting, where you can specify account information. However, you don%26#039;t _NEED_ a dynamic DNS service, but when your external IP address changes, the name will not map to your new IP until upto several hours after you update your Resource Record at Zoneedit, or wherever.
