Newbie question about registering domains
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Newbie question about registering domains
I've installed namecoin-qt and it is sync'd to the blockchain. I want to register one or more .bit domains, but I have no namecoins in my wallet. I assume I cannot register domains until I have some fractions of a coin in my wallet; is that right? How do I get the coin needed to register domains with namecoin-qt?
TIA
TIA
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Re: Newbie question about registering domains
Hi,
That is correct. The coins act as a rate-limiting mechanism to reduce spam and mass squatting (same principle as with ICANN domains).barkingdoggy wrote:I've installed namecoin-qt and it is sync'd to the blockchain. I want to register one or more .bit domains, but I have no namecoins in my wallet. I assume I cannot register domains until I have some fractions of a coin in my wallet; is that right?
You can find a list of exchanges here: https://namecoin.org/?p=exchanges. I've personally used Kraken, ShapeShift, and btc-e, although I'm unable to vouch for any particular exchange.barkingdoggy wrote:How do I get the coin needed to register domains with namecoin-qt?
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Re: Newbie question about registering domains
Kraken does not let me deposit money based on the state where I live. I don't know what the minimum balance is but I assume it will be way more than I need to register a few domains.
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Re: Newbie question about registering domains
Do you already own some bitcoins? If so, ShapeShift might be a good choice -- no signup is needed and I think the minimum deposit is very low, you just send BTC and receive some NMC to your Namecoin-Qt wallet about 10 minutes later.barkingdoggy wrote:Kraken does not let me deposit money based on the state where I live. I don't know what the minimum balance is but I assume it will be way more than I need to register a few domains.
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Re: Newbie question about registering domains
I've got a SLOW miner (7 Gh/s) that's earned me about 1/2 mBTC, which is 2% of the way to a payout on Slushy's pool. I don't see a pool that mines (or pays) Namecoins outside merged mode. Should I try solo mining Namecoins with my miner? Thanks.
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Re: Newbie question about registering domains
Namecoin's difficulty is quite high because a lot of Bitcoin miners mine Namecoin too. It's not likely to be useful to mine Namecoin without merged mining; you'll probably have more luck mining Bitcoin (maybe with NMC merge-mined) and converting the BTC to NMC with an exchange like ShapeShift.barkingdoggy wrote:I've got a SLOW miner (7 Gh/s) that's earned me about 1/2 mBTC, which is 2% of the way to a payout on Slushy's pool. I don't see a pool that mines (or pays) Namecoins outside merged mode. Should I try solo mining Namecoins with my miner? Thanks.
If you're in the U.S., you could buy BTC from Coinbase for USD, and then use ShapeShift to get NMC. Coinbase's privacy policies are horrible, though, so if you're using Namecoin for something that needs privacy, Coinbase isn't really a good option.
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Re: Newbie question about registering domains
I got my namecoins and registered a new domain, isit.bit, using namecoin-qt. Thanks for your help.
According to dot-bit.me, Raw value: {"ip":"70.88.234.69","map":{"*":{"ip":"70.88.234.69"}}}. Using opennic dns I can resolve isit.bit, but nothing else. e.g, not www.isit.bit or what.isit.bit. Subsequently, I updated the name so the Raw value now is {"ip":"70.88.234.69","map":{"www":{"ip":"70.88.234.69"}},"map":{"what":{"ip":"70.88.234.69"}}}. Still no luck with the subdomains.
Is this a shortcoming of opennic dns or is the Raw value incorrect? Do I need to get/use NMcontrol and local DNS?
According to dot-bit.me, Raw value: {"ip":"70.88.234.69","map":{"*":{"ip":"70.88.234.69"}}}. Using opennic dns I can resolve isit.bit, but nothing else. e.g, not www.isit.bit or what.isit.bit. Subsequently, I updated the name so the Raw value now is {"ip":"70.88.234.69","map":{"www":{"ip":"70.88.234.69"}},"map":{"what":{"ip":"70.88.234.69"}}}. Still no luck with the subdomains.
Is this a shortcoming of opennic dns or is the Raw value incorrect? Do I need to get/use NMcontrol and local DNS?
Re: Newbie question about registering domains
Are you sure you have your server set up properly? Can you check whether you get an IP address with "nslookup" (Windows) or something like that?barkingdoggy wrote:I got my namecoins and registered a new domain, isit.bit, using namecoin-qt. Thanks for your help.
According to dot-bit.me, Raw value: {"ip":"70.88.234.69","map":{"*":{"ip":"70.88.234.69"}}}. Using opennic dns I can resolve isit.bit, but nothing else. e.g, not http://www.isit.bit or what.isit.bit. Subsequently, I updated the name so the Raw value now is {"ip":"70.88.234.69","map":{"www":{"ip":"70.88.234.69"}},"map":{"what":{"ip":"70.88.234.69"}}}. Still no luck with the subdomains.
Is this a shortcoming of opennic dns or is the Raw value incorrect? Do I need to get/use NMcontrol and local DNS?
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Re: Newbie question about registering domains
I don't have the current public release of NMControl handy to test with, but the first raw value you gave works fine in my private beta (which has some changes from the public release); all subdomains resolve to the IPv4 address of 70.88.234.69.barkingdoggy wrote:I got my namecoins and registered a new domain, isit.bit, using namecoin-qt. Thanks for your help.
According to dot-bit.me, Raw value: {"ip":"70.88.234.69","map":{"*":{"ip":"70.88.234.69"}}}. Using opennic dns I can resolve isit.bit, but nothing else. e.g, not http://www.isit.bit or what.isit.bit. Subsequently, I updated the name so the Raw value now is {"ip":"70.88.234.69","map":{"www":{"ip":"70.88.234.69"}},"map":{"what":{"ip":"70.88.234.69"}}}. Still no luck with the subdomains.
Is this a shortcoming of opennic dns or is the Raw value incorrect? Do I need to get/use NMcontrol and local DNS?
The second raw value you gave has an error; you defined the "map" field twice with different values. As a result, my NMControl private beta only sees the second subdomain ("what"), but that subdomain does have the correct IP. I have no idea what exactly the JSON spec says about duplicate keys, so I'm not sure whether the behavior I observe is exactly what all compliant implementations will do in this case.
You can also try using the "dig" command in Linux (I think Phelix's suggestion of "nslookup" on Windows is comparable) to test whether the domain resolves. Something like:
Code: Select all
dig www.isit.bit
If the first value you used doesn't work with the resolver service you're using, then the resolver service is, in my opinion, not returning the correct results. Note that I'm not fond of third-party resolver services for anything other than occasional testing, because using such services gives them the ability to censor, hijack, or surveil some or all of your traffic.
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Re: Newbie question about registering domains
Opennic is now resolving what.isit.bit. Perhaps there is some sort of latency issue in Opennic's handling of .bit subdomains? I didn't do anything to the registration info. It is still bad JSON. I'll fix that.
IMO, 3-rd party DNS providers are the easiest way for "non-technical" people to access .bit domains. They don't know and/or care about security and privacy.
Thanks for your work/help!
IMO, 3-rd party DNS providers are the easiest way for "non-technical" people to access .bit domains. They don't know and/or care about security and privacy.
Thanks for your work/help!