Why get a Domain #
A domain is essential for exposing services publicly, and while I don’t plan on doing that just yet, it’s something I may consider in the future. Additionally, having a domain allows you to use human-readable names for internal services and obtain SSL certificates for them, which helps avoid the security warnings.
A domain can be leased from registrars.
What is a Registrar? #
A domain name registrar is a business that handles the reservation of domain names as well as the assignment of IP addresses for those domain names. Domain names are alphanumeric aliases used to access websites; for example, Cloudflare’s domain name is ‘cloudflare.com’ and the IP address would be something like 192.0.2.1 (just an example). Domain names make it easier to access websites without having to memorize and enter alphanumeric IP addresses.
—Cloudflare
These are not to be confused with Registries.
What is a Registry? #
Registries are organizations that manage top-level domains (TLDs) ‘.com’ and ‘.net’ — specifically by maintaining the records of which individual domains belong to which people and organizations. These registries are managed by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) — a department of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a global organization that coordinates several processes and databases that support the Internet’s basic functionality.
— Cloudflare
How does it work? #
When you purchase a domain lease from an accredited registrar, the registrar updates the domain registry with your information. The registry then reports this data to IANA, which ultimately ensures that the information is passed on to ICANN.
The only actor you ever interact with is the registrar.
Choosing a Registrar #
There are two main things I cared about when choosing a registrar: price and WHOIS privacy. Many domain registrars use heavy upcharges, or lure you in with a low first-year price that doubles or even quadruples upon renewal.
WHOIS Privacy #
For every domain a WHOIS form needs to be filled out with information about the owner. This information can be publicly viewed at any number of WHOIS lookup sites:
Cloudflare #
Cloudflare is probably the most well known registrar. They have the cheapest prices, only charging the renewal fee, and come with free WHOIS redaction, not to be confused with full WHOIS privacy. Your country, state, and organization will remain viewable.
They come with a lot of free benefits. It is the most feature full domain dashboard on the market. That being said, it is a loss leader for them so I wouldn’t be surprised if some of these features went paid in the future.
Porkbun #
I went with Porkbun, although I don’t love their branding, they offer a great service. Their prices are cheap, but more expensive than Cloudflare, by about $1-$3 dollars per year. They offer full WHOIS privacy replacing all of your information with their LLC.
Subdomains #
Since I wanted to use my domain to make my internal links human readable, I created Alias records (A records) for two subdomains: *.tail.MYDOMAIN.com, which points to my server’s Tailscale address, and *.local.MYDOMAIN.com, which is used for access within my home network.