Beyond Domains

Learn about Beyond Domains and personal domains.

A Miln App Licence includes a Beyond domain name.

A domain name is assigned to your Mac automatically by Beyond. The domain is assigned randomly from a supply of family-friendly names I have pre-prepared.

At the moment, the domain names are all derived from the names of apple cultivars. Thus you may be assigned a domain like pipin.tree.beyondmynetwork.com or apollo.twig.beyondmynetwork.com.

In the future, I may mix in new names, remove old or odd names, and refresh the pool of available domains to keep things interesting.

A domain is assigned uniquely to you for seven days. If you stop using Beyond, the domain will expire after this time. It will then be returned to the pool for someone else to use.

If you keep using Beyond, at least every few days, your domain will not expire and it will remain assigned to you.

Beyond Domain Terms and Conditions

Beyond Domains are assigned randomly. Domains are issued one per customer. Domains expire and may be withdrawn or replaced without notice.

Domains are provided for use only. Miln continues to own the domain and provides no guarantee of performance.

Miln is not responsible for the content associated with or the use of the assigned domains. If you need to report abuse or a problem, please e-mail support@miln.eu.

Can you change my domain?

No. I can not easily change your assigned domain. This is because I can not easily identify you and where you appear in the system.

So, if I can not easily change your domain, can you pick your own domain? At the moment, it is not possible to suggest your own Beyond domain. This is something I would like to make possible. My immediate concerns are getting Beyond up and running in a stable manner.

What if you find an assigned domain offensive or troublesome? If this is the case, please let me know via e-mail. I will investigate and likely remove the domain from the available pool.

Personal Domains

We have covered Beyond domains and how they are assigned but what if you own your own domain?

What about Beyond and personal domains?

Can you use your own domain name with Beyond? Yes, absolutely. To do this, you will need at least one verified Internet Protocol (IP) address.

Beyond is a web server like any other. You can point your personal domain name at your Mac and Beyond will serve requests from that domain.

Let’s say you own your own domain name and want to point it at Beyond running on your Mac.

What will you need to set this up? You will need a Domain Name Systems (DNS) server and the ability to create A, AAAA, or CNAME records on that server. The chances are you have this already. Often the organisation that sold you the domain name, also include access to a DNS server.

With a personal domain, verified IP addresses, and access to a DNS server, there are a couple of approaches you can take.

Direct - Domain to Mac

You can point your personal domain directly at your Mac. This means taking your Mac’s verified IP addresses and plugging them into the domain name server.

You need your Mac’s verified IP address or addresses. To get these, open the Beyond Network window within Beyond. Copy the first verified IPv4 and IPv6 addresses.

The next task will depend on the organisation providing your domain name server. Ask their technical support for help to do the following:

Please could you help me set up DNS records for your-domain.

I would like A records pointing your-domain and www.your-domain at IPv4 address.

I would like AAAA records pointing your-domain and www.your-domain at IPv6 address.

Thank you for your help.

This approach works best if your Mac’s IP addresses do not change frequently. I can not tell you if your addresses change frequently. This is something controlled by your Internet Service Provider (ISP). One way to check for a changing IP address is to use the Beyond Network window and every few days note if the verified addresses differ.

If your Mac’s IP addresses do change regularly, take a look at the indirect approach below.

Indirect - Domain to Domain to Mac

You can point your personal domain at your Beyond domain. This means taking your Beyond domain and pointing to it from another domain name server.

For this you will need your assigned Beyond domain. You can find this at the top of the Beyond Network window.

The next task will depend on the organisation providing your domain name server. Ask their technical support for help to do the following:

Please could you help me set up DNS records for your-domain.

I would like a CNAME record pointing your-domain and www.your-domain at Beyond-domain.

Thank you for your help.

This approach has the disadvantage that it relies on the Beyond service to assign and maintain a domain name, in addition to your own domain. A problem with any part, could cause your personal domain to stop pointing at your Mac. In practice, domain name systems tend to be robust and problems are short lived.

This approach’s significant advantage is Beyond becomes responsible for tracking your Mac’s verified IP addresses. If the addresses change, Beyond will notice and automatically update the domains as needed.

So long as you keep using Beyond, your assigned domain will remain yours and your redirected personal domain name will work.

Be aware that each time you are assigned a new Beyond domain, you will need to update the CNAME record; hopefully this will not be too often.

Future Direction

In future releases of Beyond, I want to let members suggest their own Beyond domains. There are security concerns in doing this, as well as potential contention over trade and popular names, and the like. All topics that are better not rushed into.

A suggested Beyond domain name would let you choose the prefix to a domain I provide. Suggesting red-trucks might then give you red-trucks.beyondmynetwork.com.

I also expect the period of time a domain is assigned to change. At the time of launch, Beyond domains expired after just 24 hours of disuse, now it is seven days. I expect it will grow as new features demand and as I get better at managing the available pool of names.