[okfn-discuss] Most "open" way of registering a domain/get a hosting?

[David Hirst]

Could it be worth a campaign to have a Top Level Domain "open", or "free"
(as in freedom) for these sorts of purposes? I guess it would need quite a
lot of plumbing. 
David

David Hirst
Mobile:  +44 7831 405443

-----Original Message-----
From: okfn-discuss-bounces at lists.okfn.org
[mailto:okfn-discuss-bounces at lists.okfn.org] On Behalf Of William Waites
Sent: 04 January 2012 16:44
To: okfn-discuss at lists.okfn.org; jonni.jemp at gmail.com
Cc: dk at trick.ca
Subject: Re: [okfn-discuss] Most "open" way of registering a domain/get a
hosting?

On Wed, 04 Jan 2012 14:13:04 +0000, <jonni.jemp at gmail.com> said:

    > hi i mormally lurk but re. hosting have found gandi.net not so
    > supportive so switched over 2 years ago to trick.ca, a
    > telekommunisten hosting service, but is prob. too small scale a
    > service for your needs?

Since the original poster asked particularly about domain name registration,
I'll expand a bit about the way trick.ca works. They have an account with
Key Systems GmbH (http;//rrpproxy.net/). Key Systems is a registrar that
offers unbundled access to the domain registration plumbing and their direct
clients are resellers like the Telekommunisten. This unbundling of the
infrastructure is something that I am not aware of other registrars doing
and is the key idea where "open" is concerned, in my opinion. It means a
level of access and control that is not otherwise possible without going and
becoming a registrar yourself.

The Telekommunisten are all about supporting cooperatives and community
organisations and individuals and moving resources into the collective or
"common good" domain so support "open" in this way (indeed generally take a
stronger position on this topic than the OKF does, but that's a separate
discussion). My domain names are lodged with them.

Also for hosting of small uncomplicated web sites, their microhosting is
pretty good. For more complicated things its a question of finding which
commodity server farm suits your needs best. I would recommend Hetzner for
real machines and ARP Networks for virtual machines. Hetzner is cheap and
competent, ARP Networks is clueful and doesn't oversubscribe their
underlying hardware nearly as badly as most of the others do and provides
you with a level of access that you don't generally get with any of the
other providers (don't want to run linux? prefer FreeBSD or OpenBSD? fine,
it's your virtual machine, do what you like).

For DNS I also use Hetzner's nameservers in a "hidden master" setup.
If you're already a Hetzner customer this is something like EUR 2 / year and
means you have proper control over your domains. But doing it this way also
means you don't have a web interface. If you want a web interface or HTTP
API, I'd also suggest Key Systems via the Telekommunisten.

Hope this helps,
-w