-----Original Message-----
From: WirtAtmar <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Friday, October 31, 1997 5:32 PM
Subject: Re: Shortest URLs


>Actually, I don't think that it is wholly a browser-dependent property.
When we
> set up our web site, I was specifically asked if we wanted both addresses,
> www.aics-research.com & aics-research.com, to go to the same place. I of
> course said yes, because that's the way our web site acts now.

Basically, this is the way it works (having set several domains up like
this)...

The newer browsers (Netscape 3.0x and MSIE 3.02+) both will add the the www
if necessary, and Netscape will add the .com.

However, the proper method for setting this up is via DNS.  There are two
ways to do this.  The first is to add an "A" record for the domain itself -
as a host.  This fakes DNS out into thinking the domain is a host.  The
other way is to set up a CNAME record, which is essentially an "alias" and
point it to a particular machine.

CNAME is the most common method for pointing FTP, Mail and W3 services to
the same machine using different URLS, for example...

www   IN   CNAME   host1.domain.com.
ftp   IN   CNAME   host1.domain.com.
mail   IN  CNAME  host1.domain.com.

In all three instances - all three URLS would point to the same machine.
The same could be said for:

somedomain.com.   IN   A  host1.somedomain.com.

   or

somedomain.com.   IN   CNAME   host1.somedomain.com.

There's all sorts of magic one can perform with DNS :-)  And it ensures all
browsers can hit the short URL...

A good weekend to all...

Joe (DNS-R-Us) Geiser

Joe Geiser - CSI Business Solutions, LLC
** Your Client-Server and Internetworking Specialists
140 Bristol-Oxford Valley Road, Suite 102
Langhorne, PA  19047-3083, USA
Phone: +1 215.945.8100   Fax: +1 215.943-8408
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