These are frequently asked questions relating to Domains

What is a domain name?

A domain name is a set of letters and numbers which makes up the web address of your website. Our domain name is Afrihost.com. Our web address is www.afrihost.com. .

In order to have your own specific website address you need to register your own domain name.

What is domain forwarding/pointing?

Domain forwarding or pointing is the rerouting of a domain name to another web address. You can point any domain name you own to any other domain name of your choice. For example: We have pointed the address www.fasthost.co.za 
to our website www.afrihost.com


Thus any requests for your domain name will be automatically forwarded to any website address of your choice. 

What is domain parking?

Domain parking enables you register and reserve a domain name for future use. It is a good way to ensure that a domain name you wish to use in the future will not be registered by someone else in the meantime. There is generally no monthly charge to park your domain. 

Can I keep my domain name if I want to change my web hosting company?

Yes. As long as your domain name is registered in your name – so make sure that your web hosting company does this before you signup! Simply update your domain name’s name servers to your new web hosting company. If you have a .co.za domain you will need to cancel your web hosting with your current web host to ensure a smooth transfer to your new web hosting company. 

How do I register a domain name?

First you need to ensure that the domain name is available. (You can do this at www.afrihost.com/domains.php)

Second you need to decide on your web hosting company and the package which you wish to have with your domain name. You can just register the domain only by choosing Domain Parking which has no hosting but simply reserves the domain name. 

Then simply apply online and your web hosting company will register your domain name for you. 

How does the Registration process take place for a new domain registration?

Selecting a Name: 

To host a web site on the Internet you will need to register a website name. This is known as the domain name. 

We would recommend that you choose a name that is best suited to your businesses name or type of business. 

Once you have identified a name you will need to consider the specifications that your website may require.

Looking at The Specs:
The specifications of your website are the hardware and software resources that your site will require.

These specifications range from:

1. The type of server (Linux of Windows Operating systems)
2. The amount of space that the site requires
3. The amount of traffic that you expect the site to move.
4. The amount of email addresses that you may require at that domain e.g name@domainname.co.za
5. The amount that you are willing to spend on the Site.
6. The Access to the server to update the site.
7. The location of the server (local or international)

The Added Benefits:

In addition to the Website specifics you will want to look at additional benefits. Those benefits that make hosting a pleasure. 

These include things like:

1. Availability of Support
2. Quality, and Consistency of Support
3. Additional Resources: e.g. software resources, administration facilities, payment options etc.
4. Security and Stability of your site.
5. Quick, Efficient, and friendly Administration

At Afrihost we try and ensure that we provide you with the best of resources to manage your site and an equally superior support structure to help you administer your site. We have packaged these requirements into our variety of hosting options made available to you. 


Selecting the Hosting Solution:

The next step would be to consider which of the Packages offered would best suit your immediate requirements. Keep in mind that your requirements will change over time. Afrihost.com enables you to Upgrade/Downgrade your package at any stage, with minimal effort.

If you have any questions regarding our packages, please feel free to contact our client services department.

Once you have selected the Ideal package for you the next step would be to register.

The Registration:

There are several avenues for you to proceed with your registration. 
» Register your site on the Afrihost.com web page.
» Contact the Client Services department and speak to consultant.
» Email the Client Services department and ask for assistance with the registration.

Please keep in mind the several payment options that we make available to you. You will require certain Contact and bank details when registering your account.

Once you have registered your site, it can take up to 2 days to activate the Domain and have you setup on our servers. Once active and all payments have been made. You will have access to your web space, administration panels, and email facilities.

If you have any further questions regarding the setup of your domain, Please feel free to contact Afrihost client services.

How do existing Domain names get transferred to Afrihost

If you have a previously registered domain the process is very similar to that of the newly registered domain. 

Upon signing up your domain with Afrihost.com (by choosing one of our packages) - you will be requested to select that either Afrihost.com does the transfer or that YOU do the transfer.

» Afrihost does the transfer: This option enables us to complete the transfer process for you. We manage the DNS.

NOTE: the transfer of .co.za domain names are free, .com; .org; .net domains cost R150.00 once for the transfer.

» You do the transfer: This option allows you to perform the transfer. Usually you would manage the DNS administration with this option.

After you have registered the domain name the transfer process will begin. If all is well with the previous hosts the domain can take between 2 days (.co.za) and two weeks (.com) to complete. 

However for none .co.za domains you can also get your current host to point the domain to our DNS servers:
ns.dns1.co.za
ns.dns2.co.za
ns.otherdns.com
ns.otherdns.net

You will be given access to our FTP server & Cpanel server so that you can publish your website & create your mail boxes (and databases if any) on our servers once you have signed up.
We can also setup a test URL (host header) so you can test the domain on our servers.

By the time the transfer has completed you should have already a working website & ready mailboxes on our servers.
Our support team and/or your developer will assist with any difficulties you may experience whilst uploading your website & databases.

There is an error in the domain name that has been registered. How can I rectify this?

If you have very recently registered a domain name with Afrihost.com and have realised that the domain name that was registered is incorrect (miss spelled) then please make sure that you contact the Afrihost.com support office as soon as possible. 

NOTE: If the error is realised too late, you will be charged full registration for the domain name. However, if realised in time, Afrihost.com should be able to rectify the error.

This is applicable for .co.za domains only.
Most other TLD's like .com; .org domains etc, the registrations are done straight away, we get billed with no possible refund available.

How do I change my already registered domain name?

Unfortunately if you have already registered a domain name, you cannot merely "swap it" for another. The process in changing your domain name to another is as follows:

1. You will need to cancel the old domain name (If you no longer require it).
2. You will need to register the new domain name (at full registration price)
3. Once the new domain is registered, and setup on the server, you will need to upload the content from the old site to the new site.