I Have a Few Questions About Buying Domains From Google

[Polarise]

Hello, I am thinking about buying a domain from domains.google.com and I have a few questions.

1. When I buy the domain, will I be able to host a site or will I need a service that could host sites for me?
2. Can I use it to store regular files like a server?
3. Anything else I should know about buying a domain?

 

[Seriel]

I don't know how Google's service works, but for normal buying of domains:

1. When I buy the domain, will I be able to host a site or will I need a service that could host sites for me?

You need a server to host the site on

2. Can I use it to store regular files like a server?

On the separate server that hosts your site, yes. On the domain, no.

3. Anything else I should know about buying a domain?

You need to pay yearly.

 

[Polarise]

I don't know how Google's service works, but for normal buying of domains:


You need a server to host the site on

On the separate server that hosts your site, yes. On the domain, no.

You need to pay yearly.

Is the server hosting free to do once you buy the domain?

 

[Seriel]

Is the server hosting free to do once you buy the domain?

No.

 

[Quantumcat]

Is the server hosting free to do once you buy the domain?

There are free ones but it isn't usually free.

 

[Polarise]

No.

What server hosting sites do you recommend?

 

[Quantumcat]

What server hosting sites do you recommend?

I use GoDaddy, only about $20/year or something. You get to use CPanel which is very easy.
If you are programming Web apps (like using Java or Ruby On Rails) you can use Heroku. Http://boot9strap.com is hosted on Heroku. It is free (if you need low capacity).

 

[Ryccardo]

There are three things involved in a typical webserver:

The host, this entity (not necessarily a single computer, but in small operations it will well be) is an HTTP server which is explosed at a certain IP and port; it actually serves files (pages, images, etc)
You could very well have a website with only this part, although it wouldn't be too practical - but it could well be free

The domain, with its purchase you literally only get the rights to the name you bought (well, rented) from a registrar, and any subdomains; usually the biggest expense for personal-grade websites

The nameserver (often called generically "DNS"), this is what you actually configure to actually link a domain to a host (or make it alias to another domain, or add arbitrary data in your domain records...)

Often when you buy hosting or domains you can get the nameserver bundled, which is usually good in both less price and less hassle, but nothing technically prevents you from getting all 3 services from different providers.

I personally use nearlyfreespeech.net, they provide all 3 of these services and, as the name implies, can be very cheap (on the order of $10/year) for a static, small, and lightweight website like (sponsored link) www.gbatrump.net

There is an option with only domain costs, giving the maximum freedom of content, size, and transfer (hosting yourself at home) but I understand that not everyone (me included) can/is willing to leave a computer and a modem on at full power 24/7

 

[Polarise]

There are three things involved in a typical webserver:

The host, this entity (not necessarily a single computer, but in small operations it will well be) is an HTTP server which is explosed at a certain IP and port; it actually serves files (pages, images, etc)
You could very well have a website with only this part, although it wouldn't be too practical - but it could well be free

The domain, with its purchase you literally only get the rights to the name you bought (well, rented) from a registrar, and any subdomains; usually the biggest expense for personal-grade websites

The nameserver (often called generically "DNS"), this is what you actually configure to actually link a domain to a host (or make it alias to another domain, or add arbitrary data in your domain records...)

Often when you buy hosting or domains you can get the nameserver bundled, which is usually good in both less price and less hassle, but nothing technically prevents you from getting all 3 services from different providers.

I personally use nearlyfreespeech.net, they provide all 3 of these services and, as the name implies, can be very cheap (on the order of $10/year) for a static, small, and lightweight website like (sponsored link) www.gbatrump.net

There is an option with only domain costs, giving the maximum freedom of content, size, and transfer (hosting yourself at home) but I understand that not everyone (me included) can/is willing to leave a computer and a modem on at full power 24/7

nearlyfreespeech.net does look nice. You say that it is good for lightweight sites, could I add CSS and make it look nice like how GBATemp looks? Please clarify a bit more.

 

[Ryccardo]

nearlyfreespeech.net does look nice. You say that it is good for lightweight sites, could I add CSS and make it look nice like how GBATemp looks? Please clarify a bit more.

Thay don't have a problem with heavy stuff, however you pay a daily fee proportional to the size of your files (within reason - it can take many days to accumulate a cent worth of charges) and another based on data transferred

CSS is just a file like any other, zero issues here

Gbatemp is a "dynamic" website, where pages are not all 100% created by the site's staff beforehands, but rather the site can be contributed to through the site itself (any website using PHP, CGI, etc is dynamic) which costs 1 extra cent per day

 

[Polarise]

Thay don't have a problem with heavy stuff, however you pay a daily fee proportional to the size of your files (within reason - it can take many days to accumulate a cent worth of charges) and another based on data transferred

CSS is just a file like any other, zero issues here

Gbatemp is a "dynamic" website, where pages are not all 100% created by the site's staff beforehands, but rather the site can be contributed to through the site itself (any website using PHP, CGI, etc is dynamic) which costs 1 extra cent per day

So with each activity done on the server it costs one cent? Like if I transfer five files, it will cost five cents per day? Why don't they just charge monthly/yearly?

 

[Ryccardo]

So with each activity done on the server it costs one cent? Like if I transfer five files, it will cost five cents per day? Why don't they just charge monthly/yearly?

No, $0.01/day is a fixed charge for dynamic sites regardless of what you do with them
At the end of each day, you're also charged (usually way less than a cent, so the amount is held until it reaches that level) based on the currently used storage space and how much your files were accessed

Nearlyfreespeech is against the idea of being primarily based on a fixed fee over time (except where they're forced to, such as the domains themselves) because it's more fair that people who use more resources should be the ones to pay more!