Using File Storage for Website

KansasFan · 6 Dec 2004, 01:46 PM

In regards to using one's file storage space as a website, I have the following questions:

1. May I point a domain name that I own (i.e. mysite.com) to a directory in my file storage area?

2. If yes, then (I'm unsure of the terminology, but) can I "mask" what shows up on the surfer's browser (i.e. "www.mysite.com" instead of "fmuser.fastmail.fm")?

3. If yes, then can associated pages be "masked" as well ("fmuser.fastmail.fm/page1.htm" = "mysite.com/page1.htm")?

Clear enough?

Thanks,

Darrel

kurianja · 6 Dec 2004, 08:54 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by KansasFan
In regards to using one's file storage space as a website, I have the following questions:

1. May I point a domain name that I own (i.e. mysite.com) to a directory in my file storage area?

2. If yes, then (I'm unsure of the terminology, but) can I "mask" what shows up on the surfer's browser (i.e. "www.mysite.com" instead of "fmuser.fastmail.fm")?

3. If yes, then can associated pages be "masked" as well ("fmuser.fastmail.fm/page1.htm" = "mysite.com/page1.htm")?

1. Yes. Add the domain to the Options->Aliases page, and then point the A records of your domain to the IP 66.111.4.61 You should have a catchall alias(*@yourdomain.com) in your Options->aliases, and should enable web access for this alias in your Files screen(Click on the 'Control access' button).

However, note that you must set up your email to be hosted by fastmail for your website to work. To set up your email, see

http://www.fastmail.fm/docs/faqparts...tm#AliasDomain
http://www.fastmail.fm/docs/faqparts...tm#AliasDomain

2&3. If you do the above, all pages will appear to be served from your domain website(http://www.yourdomain.com instead of http://username.fastmail.fm). Hope that's what you are looking for.

KansasFan · 6 Dec 2004, 09:09 PM

If I understand your answer correctly, that's exactly what I am looking for.

I'm planning on setting up an informational website for a business service that I am starting, and it looks like I can do this without shelling out any additional funds for web hosting, at least initially. (I won't be offering downloads, and therefore my bandwidth and storage needs are minimal.) Thanks, Fastmail!

Question: Since I have a Full Account, it appears that I will need to either pay $1.00/mo for the "Virtual Domain" OR upgrade to an Enhanced Account (which I have considered doing anyway). Is that correct?

6 Dec 2004, 09:12 PM

Correct.

kurianja · 6 Dec 2004, 09:30 PM

Note that you will need to pay for the domain, and atleast one virtual alias, which together is $1.10 per month.

KansasFan · 6 Dec 2004, 09:41 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by kurianja
Note that you will need to pay for the domain, and atleast one virtual alias, which together is $1.10 per month.

Is that assuming I don't upgrade to an Enhanced account, or will I have to pay these monthly costs either way (with either the Full or the Enhanced accounts)?

6 Dec 2004, 09:50 PM

This is assuming you don't upgrade. Enhanced users can set up to 10 virtual aliases at no extra charge.

http://www.fastmail.fm/pages/fastmai...ricingtbl.html

KansasFan · 6 Dec 2004, 10:57 PM

OK. Now, if I set up a "catch-all alias" for my own domain as kurianja recommended above, in theory why would I need to set up any other aliases for my own domain? Since, by definition, a catchall will ensure that any email sent to ***@mydomain.com will be delivered? Would I need to set up these additional aliases if I wanted to do something special with some of them; i.e. forward to another address, or reject email sent to them, or set up special personalities for them?

aussieboykie · 7 Dec 2004, 10:26 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by kurianja
1. Yes. Add the domain to the Options->Aliases page, and then point the A records of your domain to the IP 66.111.4.61 You should have a catchall alias(*@yourdomain.com) in your Options->aliases, and should enable web access for this alias in your Files screen(Click on the 'Control access' button).

However, note that you must set up your email to be hosted by fastmail for your website to work. To set up your email, see

http://www.fastmail.fm/docs/faqparts...tm#AliasDomain

2&3. If you do the above, all pages will appear to be served from your domain website(http://www.yourdomain.com instead of http://username.fastmail.fm). Hope that's what you are looking for.

I am an Enhanced user and my MX records are set in Zonedit so that my mail is managed by FM. I currently use Zonedit web forwarding to map subdomains to folders in my file storage area. This works but I notice that the underlying FastMail alias is revealed by the browser during the page load process. Let me prefix my questions by the admission that I'm not at the top of the class when it comes to the topic of web serving and mail serving...[list=1][*]Kurian, if I understand you correctly then if I point the A record for MYDOMAIN.COM at 66.111.4.61 my FM alias will be fully masked and will no longer be revealed by the browser?
[*]Does this work at the subdomain level or only at the top level? In other words, can I point MYSTUFF.MYDOMAIN.COM at 66.111.4.61 without pointing MYDOMAIN.COM at 66.111.4.61?
[*]Does pointing MYDOMAIN.COM at 66.111.4.61 automatically mean that WWW.MYDOMAIN.COM is also served by 66.111.4.61?
[*]If I point MYDOMAIN.COM at 66.111.4.61 can I still use web forward to point MYSTUFF.MYDOMAIN.COM at a folder in my file storage area?[/list=1]
Regards, AB

kurianja · 7 Dec 2004, 03:14 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by aussieboykie
I am an Enhanced user and my MX records are set in Zonedit so that my mail is managed by FM. I currently use Zonedit web forwarding to map subdomains to folders in my file storage area. This works but I notice that the underlying FastMail alias is revealed by the browser during the page load process. Let me prefix my questions by the admission that I'm not at the top of the class when it comes to the topic of web serving and mail serving...[list=1][*]Kurian, if I understand you correctly then if I point the A record for MYDOMAIN.COM at 66.111.4.61 my FM alias will be fully masked and will no longer be revealed by the browser?
[*]Does this work at the subdomain level or only at the top level? In other words, can I point MYSTUFF.MYDOMAIN.COM at 66.111.4.61 without pointing MYDOMAIN.COM at 66.111.4.61?
[*]Does pointing MYDOMAIN.COM at 66.111.4.61 automatically mean that WWW.MYDOMAIN.COM is also served by 66.111.4.61?
[*]If I point MYDOMAIN.COM at 66.111.4.61 can I still use web forward to point MYSTUFF.MYDOMAIN.COM at a folder in my file storage area?[/list=1]
Regards, AB

1. Yes
2. Yes.
3. No. You need to have an explicit A record for the www subdomain.
4. Yes, I believe you can still use the web forwarding.

rjlov · 7 Dec 2004, 03:39 PM

Regarding point 4...

WebForwarding should work, but it will still expose the forwardee address. Now, maybe you don't care, if it's forwarding to something like http://mydomain.com/mystuff but it's something to be aware of.

However, you don't HAVE to use webforwarding, see below.

Regarding points 3 and 4...

It turns out that if you specify *.mydomain.com => 66.111.4.61 at ZoneEdit then it will work like you expect. I don't know if this is documented or standard behaviour, but it seems to work!

So then, if you go to www.mydomain.com or mystuff.mydomain.com then it will get pointed to your /public folder. (Assuming you also have a catchall alias.)

If you create a folder under 'My Folders' called 'mystuff.mydomain.com' then that will be used instead of your public folder.

That list bit is a little bit hard to understand, but fairly flexible. Sometime soon we're hoping to revamp it to make it much easier to use.

Richard.

aussieboykie · 7 Dec 2004, 06:50 PM

Thanks Kurian and Richard. This is a very powerful feature. When I first got involved in this thread I certainly didn't expect to trigger such a bonus! My investment in an Enhanced account just gets better and better....

Cheers, AB

KansasFan · 12 Dec 2004, 02:52 AM

Thanks to all the posters for your help. However, my virtual domain is still not working properly.

In the past few days, I have:

1. Upgraded to an Enhanced account.

2. Created a ZoneEdit account, pointed my nameservers there, then pointed my A and MZ records to fastmail per the FAQ and the instructions above. (I know that I could have used Fastmail's nameservers directly in my domain name registrar's records, but I wanted the flexibility of hosting my web site elsewhere if I chose to).

3. Setup a virtual domain and catch-all alias for my domain name.

4. Enabled web access for my virtual domain name, and created a test page called "index.html" and uploaded it to my public folder.

I am experiencing the following problems:

When I try to send an email to my new domain (from my fastmail account) I receive the error message:

"mail for yourwriter [dot] com loops back to myself"

And when I type in yourwriter [dot] com in my browser, I am taken to a fastmail page that with the message:

"The page you have tried to access is not a valid known user. Please check that you have the correct URL and try again."

What am I doing wrong?

Darrel

KansasFan · 12 Dec 2004, 03:57 AM

I just tried both the URL and email, and they both work. It must have been a timing issue.

KansasFan · 12 Dec 2004, 04:03 AM

Upon the advice of a member on another thread, while trying to resolve my problems I typed my domain name at the dnsreport website, and there were a few "warnings".

Would some knowledgable person do the same and tell me whether I need to be concerned about the "warnings"? My domain is yourwriter [dot] com.

Thanks,

Darrel

6 Dec 2004, 01:46 PM	#1
KansasFan Junior Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 27	Using File Storage for Website In regards to using one's file storage space as a website, I have the following questions: 1. May I point a domain name that I own (i.e. mysite.com) to a directory in my file storage area? 2. If yes, then (I'm unsure of the terminology, but) can I "mask" what shows up on the surfer's browser (i.e. "www.mysite.com" instead of "fmuser.fastmail.fm")? 3. If yes, then can associated pages be "masked" as well ("fmuser.fastmail.fm/page1.htm" = "mysite.com/page1.htm")? Clear enough? Thanks, Darrel

6 Dec 2004, 09:09 PM	#3
KansasFan Junior Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 27	If I understand your answer correctly, that's exactly what I am looking for. I'm planning on setting up an informational website for a business service that I am starting, and it looks like I can do this without shelling out any additional funds for web hosting, at least initially. (I won't be offering downloads, and therefore my bandwidth and storage needs are minimal.) Thanks, Fastmail! Question: Since I have a Full Account, it appears that I will need to either pay $1.00/mo for the "Virtual Domain" OR upgrade to an Enhanced Account (which I have considered doing anyway). Is that correct?

6 Dec 2004, 09:30 PM	#5
kurianja Master of the @ Join Date: Apr 2003 Posts: 1,395 Representative of: Fastmail.FM	Note that you will need to pay for the domain, and atleast one virtual alias, which together is $1.10 per month.

6 Dec 2004, 09:50 PM	#7
Daniel S Guest Posts: n/a	This is assuming you don't upgrade. Enhanced users can set up to 10 virtual aliases at no extra charge. http://www.fastmail.fm/pages/fastmai...ricingtbl.html

6 Dec 2004, 10:57 PM	#8
KansasFan Junior Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 27	OK. Now, if I set up a "catch-all alias" for my own domain as kurianja recommended above, in theory why would I need to set up any other aliases for my own domain? Since, by definition, a catchall will ensure that any email sent to ***@mydomain.com will be delivered? Would I need to set up these additional aliases if I wanted to do something special with some of them; i.e. forward to another address, or reject email sent to them, or set up special personalities for them?

7 Dec 2004, 03:39 PM	#11
rjlov Essential Contributor Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 282 Representative of: Fastmail.FM	Regarding point 4... WebForwarding should work, but it will still expose the forwardee address. Now, maybe you don't care, if it's forwarding to something like http://mydomain.com/mystuff but it's something to be aware of. However, you don't HAVE to use webforwarding, see below. Regarding points 3 and 4... It turns out that if you specify *.mydomain.com => 66.111.4.61 at ZoneEdit then it will work like you expect. I don't know if this is documented or standard behaviour, but it seems to work! So then, if you go to www.mydomain.com or mystuff.mydomain.com then it will get pointed to your /public folder. (Assuming you also have a catchall alias.) If you create a folder under 'My Folders' called 'mystuff.mydomain.com' then that will be used instead of your public folder. That list bit is a little bit hard to understand, but fairly flexible. Sometime soon we're hoping to revamp it to make it much easier to use. Richard.

7 Dec 2004, 06:50 PM	#12
aussieboykie Essential Contributor Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Sydney, Australia Posts: 475	Thanks Kurian and Richard. This is a very powerful feature. When I first got involved in this thread I certainly didn't expect to trigger such a bonus! My investment in an Enhanced account just gets better and better.... Cheers, AB

12 Dec 2004, 02:52 AM	#13
KansasFan Junior Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 27	Thanks to all the posters for your help. However, my virtual domain is still not working properly. In the past few days, I have: 1. Upgraded to an Enhanced account. 2. Created a ZoneEdit account, pointed my nameservers there, then pointed my A and MZ records to fastmail per the FAQ and the instructions above. (I know that I could have used Fastmail's nameservers directly in my domain name registrar's records, but I wanted the flexibility of hosting my web site elsewhere if I chose to). 3. Setup a virtual domain and catch-all alias for my domain name. 4. Enabled web access for my virtual domain name, and created a test page called "index.html" and uploaded it to my public folder. I am experiencing the following problems: When I try to send an email to my new domain (from my fastmail account) I receive the error message: "mail for yourwriter [dot] com loops back to myself" And when I type in yourwriter [dot] com in my browser, I am taken to a fastmail page that with the message: "The page you have tried to access is not a valid known user. Please check that you have the correct URL and try again." What am I doing wrong? Darrel

12 Dec 2004, 03:57 AM	#14
KansasFan Junior Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 27	I just tried both the URL and email, and they both work. It must have been a timing issue.

12 Dec 2004, 04:03 AM	#15
KansasFan Junior Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 27	Upon the advice of a member on another thread, while trying to resolve my problems I typed my domain name at the dnsreport website, and there were a few "warnings". Would some knowledgable person do the same and tell me whether I need to be concerned about the "warnings"? My domain is yourwriter [dot] com. Thanks, Darrel