RM Domain Name Services

Domain names may not seem that important but are essential if you want to have a school Web site or use an email service for your staff or students. Without registering and hosting a domain name neither of these is possible!

A domain name is the part of the email address that comes after the '@', ie *******@rm.com or the part of the Web site address that comes between 'www' and the next forward slash ie www.rm.com/support. So RM's domain name is 'rm.com'. They're basically an easier way of remembering a complicated numerical address, ie www.rm.com is 194.154.15.247.

The difference between hosting and registration of domain names
Domain name registration gives you the exclusive right to use that domain name, whereas domain name hosting allows that domain name to actually be used.

• Allows you to source all your email, Web hosting, and domain name services from one place which means you have only one company to contact for support, service amendments, and advice.
• Removes the need for you to set up domain names hosting services on your own network - no additional overheads for hardware, support, licensing, or lost time.
• Supports government initiatives, eg BECTA 'Schools names on the net' project - meaning your school can benefit from participating in these schemes.

A domain name needs to be both registered and hosted.  It is possible to have your domain name registered and hosted by separate companies, although for administrative ease we suggest you use us for both.

Domain Name Registration

You must register your domain name as all domain names must be unique. Registration stops anyone else from using your chosen domain name.

Register non-.sch.uk domain names eg .org.uk or .co.uk
You will need to choose a domain name which is not already registered, then you will need to order the RM Domain Name Registration service. Once you order this service we will contact you for full details of the domain name you wish to register, register the domain, and make sure that the registration is renewed at the appropriate time.

Please be aware that registering a .uk domain name with RM means that we register your domain name on your behalf with Nominet, they are the registrars for every .uk domain name.
For .gov.uk and .ac.uk domain name only, the registry is UKERNA.

Register .sch.uk domain names
.sch.uk domain names are provided free of charge by the government.  All .sch.uk domain names are registered by Nominet, with no charge. If you need to register a .sch.uk domain name please visit www.nominet.org.uk
Nominet also has to tag the registered domain name to the domain name host and they will charge a small fee to do this.
Important: Your school is only allowed one .sch.uk domain name, so if you want to create a new one the old one will be deleted after a short period by Nominet.

Domain Name Hosting

This service means that you will be able to use your registered domain name practically, by attaching a Web site or email service to it.  In technical terms this means that a file is created on a DNS (Domain Name System) server that contains information about services on a domain. This enables emails to be correctly directed and people surfing to your Web site to be sent to the correct place.

You can host your .sch.uk domain name with RM, all you need to do is order the RM Domain Name Hosting part and we'll do the rest.

The service is fully managed which means that all sub-domain (ie www.domainname.com/subdomain) and re-pointing requests are included in the service at no extra charge.

Simple Domain Name Transfers
If you wish to move your domain name hosting to RM from another company it takes just three simple steps:

1) Place your order online for RM Domain Name Hosting.
2) Contact your current provider to prepare your domain name for transfer, ie request that your domain name is released so no longer hosted by that company.
2) We will contact you for full details of the domain name you want us to host and then we'll do the rest.

Changing your Domain Name
During the crossover period, both the new and the old domain names will be hosted, to allow Internet services (such as Web email or an SMTP email feed) and any important email or Web site content to be transferred.
If we host the old domain name, you can choose not to purchase a new domain name hosting contract for your new domain as we will host both the new and the old names concurrently for one calendar month or for as long as both domain names are registered (whichever period is shorter).