- Decide whether you want an id.au domain
for yourself (or your family).
If not, the checklist is finished.
- Determine what you want to use this domain for, and how you will use it.
For example, do you want it for email and/or a personal web site?
This includes deciding what sort of
DNS
records you would like for the domain.
(Further information on this is available.)
If you cannot determine a use, the checklist is finished.
- Choose a subdomain of id.au to register in.
One way to choose is based on the subdomain's policy.
For this checklist, it is assumed that you choose wattle.id.au.
- Register a domain name of your choice.
In wattle.id.au the domain name is required to be based on your surname.
See the wattle.id.au policy for details.
- Wait for some E-mail from
hostmaster at nic.wattle.id.au
to confirm that your choice of name has been accepted, or otherwise.
This normally takes 7-14 days.
Note that wattle.id.au is maintained by a volunteer.
If turnaround time is important for you, or you need assistance with
the DNS, it is suggested that you choose a different
id.au sub-domain.
- Now that the domain name has been agreed and confirmed, you (or your
ISP) will generally need to set up something at your end. For example,
if your purpose is to receive mail, you would need to have an SMTP mail
server configured to accept mail for your new domain name and be able to
deliver it to you based on its internal configuration files (without
further reference to the DNS).
If you need assistance with this, please consult your System
Administrator, your ISP, or a commercial IT consultant such as
Cybersource.
Please note that wattle.id.au does not provide a mailbox or any
other value added services. The only service provided is the
addition of DNS records.
If you are looking for a mailbox or mail forwarding facility
(so that no changes are required to your SMTP mail server) in Australia,
then you may like to look at the Free Email Providers Guide list of
free email services
(which includes entries like Yahoo Mail),
or a mail redirector like pobox.com.au.
- Test that the your setup works locally.
(eg: send mail to your new address from the main SMTP mail server which
should recognise your new domain.)
- Once the domain name has been confirmed and things are set up at your
end, you should submit the DNS details (if you haven't already provided
your DNS details when applying for the domain) through
the wattle.id.au change form.
These details (such as MX records or NS records) can then be added to
your domain by the hostmaster.
If you are doing a full delegation, then you must supply at least two
name servers. If you are having trouble finding two DNS servers, you
could look at places like
zoneedit.com or
mydomain.com or
granitecanyon.com
(Please let me know if you can recommend other places that do free DNS hosting).
- Allow some time for DNS records to propagate through the DNS.
12-24 hours is probably an appropriate time.
- Test that your new setup works from other random places.
- Change over to using your new domain.