1. Almost-free Hosting using FreeDNS & Google Apps Patrick Ladd pmladd@gmail.com

2. Costs for Conventional Hosting ● Hostname - $10 - $15 / year ● DNS - $30 / year ● Hosting - ~$50 / year – Web server – Mail server – Other stuff

3. Getting rid of DNS cost ● Free DNS providers – freedns.afraid.org – everydns.net ● Most ask for a donation – Enables extra features, etc

4. Domain setup ● Buy your domain ● Add these DNS servers with registrar – NS1.AFRAID.ORG (67.19.72.206) – NS2.AFRAID.ORG (66.252.5.14) – NS3.AFRAID.ORG (72.20.15.62) – NS4.AFRAID.ORG (208.43.71.243) ● Add to freedns.afraid.org – Go to domain menu – Enter your domain – Set sharing ● Public – freely accessible ● Private – you approve any subdomains ● Stealth – only for paid subscribers

5. Hosting ● Lots of free hosting solutions ● Most have some kind of advertising driven model ● You get what you pay for – Storage capacity – Flexibility – Shell access – Software control – Long term stability

6. Google Hosting ● Google has a number of free solutions – googlepages.com – Gmail – docs / calendar – Video / talk / analytics / contacts ● Bundled together – Google Apps

7. Create Apps Account ● Sign up – Start from http://apps.google.com/http://apps.google.com/ ● Standard: http://www.google.com/a/cpanel/domain/newhttp://www.google.com/a/cpanel/domain/new ● Education: http://www.google.com/a/cpanel/education/newhttp://www.google.com/a/cpanel/education/new ● Log in to dashboard – https://www.google.com/a/your_domain.com https://www.google.com/a/your_domain.com – Set up users – Select Services

8. Set Up Domain DNS ● Apps Dashboard: – Verify primary domain ownership – Domain Settings --> Domain Names – Locate your unique string: googlefffggghhh12345 ● FreeDNS – Verify primary domain ownership ● CNAME ● Subdomain: {your unique string} ● Destination: google.com – URL redirector ● From Web Forward section

9. Set Up Email Delivery ● Add MX Records to FreeDNS – Add total of 7 records: ● 10:aspmx.l.google.com ● 20:alt1.aspmx.l.google.com ● 20:alt2.aspmx.l.google.com ● 30:aspmx2.googlemail.com ● 30:aspmx3.googlemail.com ● 30:aspmx4.googlemail.com ● 30:aspmx5.googlemail.com ● Optional – Set up SPF – See Google Help DocsGoogle Help Docs

10. Set up Apps Subdomains ● Apps Dashboard: – Service Settings --> {svc name} --> Web Address --> Change URL – Or all-in-1 URL: https://www.google.com/a/cpanel/t26.us/Custo mUrl ● FreeDNS – Add CNAME ● Type: CNAME ● Subdomain: {Custom URL} ● Destination: ghs.google.com