Virtual Hosting for a newbie.

Ok. Here is the problem for this newbie. LOL. Well I am setting up a Apache Server. I want it to be able to host more than one domain. So I am fully aware of the server side setup. IE httpd.conf . I need to know how it is I will tell websites such as register.com to redirect to my server instead. Oh yes, I almost forgot Yes I do have a static IP. I guess my real quetion is what would my DNS be? Just my IP? Any help is appreciated.

Your DNS entries can be hosted by your ISP, your domain registrar (in some cases), or you can host your own DSN server.

Who ever is hosting your DNS entries needs to make the changes. Since you have a static IP, I would set up your own DNS server. Having direct control over your DNS entries allows you to make changes immediatly (instead of waitng for some other over worked tech to find time make them for you). Just make sure you ISP dosent have a policy against hosting your own DSN off your the static IP they gave you.

If you or your ISP cant (or wont) host it, there are a few places on the web that will host your DNS entries for you. Some of then are free and some of them are fee based, but what you really want to look for is one that you can make immediate changes to any time you want. I saw a free DNS host that had web based administration about a month ago, but I cant seem to find it right now. I will post it here if and when I do.

The site was burried in my bookmarks, but I finally found it.

http://soa.granitecanyon.com/

I havent tried it yet, but it looks good. You have full control over your own DNS entries.

One last step you would need to take after you get you DSN setup is to change your Primary DNS entry at the Internic (or what ever they are called now). You will need to do this with whom ever you registed your domain through.

The Public DNS Service (the web site listed above) has FAQ's and info on how to do all this also.

Thank you very much. I will look into that tomorrow since it is almost midnight. Again thank you for your help.

Thereis also a free dns service at http://www.centralinfo.net and another at http://www.zoneedit.com that's free for under 5 domains...

Ok so let me see if I have this info correct. I have a static IP therefore when I sign up for this DNS service and someone puts that for the DNS records of their domain it redirects to me. And I will have the virtual domain setup. You can reply just Yes or No. I just want to make sure.

Dont forget to have your domain's name server record updated. This is usually done throught your registrar (NetworkSolutions, register.com, etc). To find what your current Nameservers are set to contact your registrar or go to http://ipalloc.utah.edu/HTML_Docs/NSLookup.html

Domain's Name Server record tells the rest of the Internet what DNS servers to use when requesting information about your domains.

Did you use register.com to register a domain? I believe that you can just use their service that comes with a domain name registration to make changes to DNS entries.
If you did use them, go to the "manage my account" section and there is a Edit DNS Information and a Manage zone file information sections. I havent used their service, but it looks like they host the DNS servers for all of their customers. You could just set the zone information for your domains so that http://www.yourdomin.com is pointed to your static IP

Thanks, You guys have help A LOT. Really you have answered alot of the questions I had.