www vs non-www

[JakeThePeg]

Hi,

I currently have a domain name registered for a regularly used business web site.

I recently had some promotional material printed, and the printers neglected to include the "www" in the web address (so the promo material reads http://example.com ).

To save getting the material reprinted, is it possible to redirect both URLS to the same address. If so, how would I go about doing this?

Thanks a bundle!

[edited by: Webwork at 10:41 am (utc) on Jan. 27, 2006]
[edit reason] Charter [webmasterworld.com] [/edit]

[Webwork]

Entirely possible. It's a simple "redirect", which can set up by your server admin or hosting company. People who type-in the non-www website name will be redirected to the www. site.

You can also employ the less elegant approach of a webpage redirect, but I'd suggest you advoid this option is you can.

[jtara]

Keep in mind that you MUST have an address for the base name to have a properly configured DNS - even if it is 0.0.0.0. You CANNOT use a CNAME for the base name.

You can do one of two things in your DNS setup:

example.com. IN A 1.2.3.4
www IN A 1.2.3.4

or

example.com. IN A 1.2.3.4
www IN CNAME example.com.

Either will work as well. I prefer the latter, since the address only appears in one place, so it's easier and less error-prone to update.

Since you need to put SOMETHING in for the base name (even if there are no servers there) this is a no-brainer. Should be everybody's standard setup, unless you have a good reason to deviate from it.

I think most people prefer to drop the www nowadays, but also include it for users that just instinctively prefix the www.