DreamHost 101

This page is intended to give you a view of DreamHost services "in a nutshell". Of course for more details there are links to other Wiki articles that provide much more details if you need them.

What Does DreamHost Do?
DreamHost provides two basic services;


 * 1) Domain REGISTRATIONS - registering (purchasing) a domain name so you can create a presence on the Internet (web page, e-mail, etc.).
 * 2) Domain HOSTING - providing server resources to provide web pages, e-mail, etc..

''In order to host a domain is must first be registered. Both components are required to get a domain on-line and accessible on the Internet. Either one without the other is useless.''

Domain Registrations
In order to do anything on the Internet you must first register a domain name (ie: "mydomain.com"). Note that when it comes to domain registrations the "www." sub-domain can be ignored.

You register (purchase) domains names with an entity called a REGISTRAR. DreamHost is a ICANN approved registrar for the following top level domains; .COM, .NET, .ORG & .INFO.

Domain registrations and renewals cost $9.95/year each. One is included free each year IF you have an active hosting plan on your account.

Our system gives you several different ways you can register domain names. When and how you register a domain can be very important!


 * 1) If you intend to host your domain with us it's best to sign-up for a hosting plan on our sign-up page. This is because with your active hosting plan you're entitled to one free domain registration/renewal/transfer each year so if you go this route your first domain registration will be FREE!
 * 2) If you have not yet registered a domain you can register one during our sign-up process. If you already do have a domain registered you can initiate a transfer of that registration to us as well on during the sign-up process by including your transfer authorization code.
 * 3) Once you have an active account with us you can register new domains (or renew currently registered domains) via our control panel under menu option (DOMAINS > REGISTRATION).
 * 4) If you ONLY want to register domains with us you can select that option on our sign-up page. Just because you register a domain name with us doesn't necessarily mean you have to host it with us.

You can also transfer a domain registration to us from another registrar (provided it is a .COM, .NET, .ORG or .INFO top level domain). You can initiate a transfer in our control panel under menu option (DOMAINS > REG. TRANSFER). There is no additional transfer fee however as your domain registration will be automatically renewed for an additional year (from it's current expiration date) upon successful transfer you will be charged for a renewal.

You can also transfer domains registered with us to another compatible registrar. There is no fee for transferring domain registrations away (as long as the previous registration/renewals have been paid in full).

Once you've got a domain registered (and set to our name servers) you can configure it to be hosted one our servers.

Domain Hosting
The term hosting refers to setting up the services to feed up web pages, manage e-mail mailboxes, databases, etc. on a server that support your domain.

For a list of the features and services we provide please see these links;


 * Features
 * Feature Glossary

To host your domain, e-mail, databases etc. on our server you have to set up the configuration in our Control Panel.

