Changing The A Records
A records are only the IP addresses of your website. This would be the IP address for the www and non-www version of your site. For example:
- example.com
- www.example.com
If you only point your A records to a different company, only your website is hosted at the new company. All of your other DNS records continue to be hosted where your Nameservers are pointed.
The illustrations below show a few ways this could be implemented.
What Server Types Are Used In A Dns Check
There are 4 different types of DNS servers involved when performing a DNS check. Each has a different role and may not be needed at all depending on the situation, having all these different server types is what contributes to DNS propagation issues.
Recursive Resolver – The DNS server your device communicates with is called the recursive resolver and is issued to you automatically by your ISP, but can be also configured on your router or individual devices. These DNS severs are ideally located in close geographical proximity to return results as fast as possible. These servers will cache a copy of the DNS results to speed up future DNS lookup requests.
Root Name Server – This type of DNS server is responsible for returning the IP address of the TLD nameserver. For instance, if it is trying to resolve example.com, the root name server returns the IP of the TLD name server that runs .com domains.
TLD Name Server – This name server returns the authoritative name servers for each domain under the Top Level Domain it’s responsible for. The .com TLD name server will return results for example.com but not example.org.
– This stores DNS servers’ configuration data for specific domain names.
What Is A Nameserver And Its Purpose
NS stands for the nameserver. NS records are the nameserver records that contain the information of the nameservers associated with the domain.
These are the DNS records type that indicates
An example of an NS record may look like the following.
| Record |
|---|
- mydomain.com represents the domain of the record
- NS represents the DNS record type.
- ns1.mydomain.com represents the value of the record. That is the nameserver for that domain.
- 3600 is TTL . It is the time for which the DNS server caches the record. On the expiry of that time, the server goes for the fresh DNS records data.
The nameserver can never point to the canonical name record.
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How To Find Out Who Is Managing My Dns Records
I have a following situation: a website is registered with registrar X, hosted on server Y and about to move to server Z.
The both servers Y and Z do not manage the domain DNS as according to them it is managed by the company it was purchased from and then pointed to their servers in order to publish the site.
In fact on both servers there is no trace of my domain DNS management . I spoke to both servers Y and Z and they said they cannot manage something they dont see.
I spoke to the registrar X and the deny the DNS management for this particular domain as their settings only require you to point to your DNS host addresses. Any further settings such as ‘A’ records would have to be configured using the control panel of your DNS hosting provider.
In fact inside the control panel of registrar X I can only update the name servers and thats all. I cannot update the A records.
I looked up for the website DNS on web and it looks that it points to the server Y.
Moreover the default DNS name servers for both server Y and Z are exactly the same.
Is there any way for me to find who is managing this domain DNS? What can I do?
How To Check Where Your Domain Is Being Handled
You may have a domain name for your business or yourself but you might have forgotten where its registered, who is hosting the website, or who is hosting email. Your domain can be split up between hosts, so knowing where to find what can be a puzzle.
With the tips here, you should be able to figure it out.
This article will cover the following:
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Checking Dns Records Using The Command Line
The most efficient way to check DNS records of the domain is to use a terminal with the command nslookup. This command will run on almost all operating systems . The command nslookup shows all DNS records of the domain and below will be provided various nslookup command for the different DNS record types to check using the command line.
For the demonstration, I will use our domain name hostens.com. When you will open the terminal window, type the following commands, just do not miss to replace hostens.com with your domain name.
Lookup A record:
Lookup TXT record:
nslookup -type=TXT hostens.com
Other DNS records you can check by replacing the DNS record type, for example, nslookup -type=SOA domainname.
Also, there are other commands which you can use to check DNS records, for example, ping or host. The ping command shows domain A record where the domain is pointed.
The host command runs on Linux and shows the IP address of a particular domain name or if you want to find out the domain name of a particular IP address.
nslookup and host commands output as an example:
Apply The New Nameservers Values
The next step of pointing a domain name to a new host is to replace the domains old nameservers. Heres how to do it:
NOTE: If you see the Create child nameservers field, you can ignore it.
Keep these tips in mind should there be any difference between the number of nameservers and the number of available fields:
- If your hosting provider only gives you two nameservers, but your registrar provides you with four or more fields, enter the first two, leaving the other ones empty.
- If your hosting provider gives you three nameservers, but your registrar only allows you to enter two, use the first two nameservers.
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Find Your Domain Host
Your domain host is typically who you bought your domain name from. If you dont remember who your domain host is, search your email archives for billing records about registration or transfer of your domain name.
Your domain host is listed on your invoice.
If you cant find your billing records, you can search for your domain host online. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers is a non-profit organization that collects domain information. Use the ICANN Lookup tool to find your domain host.
Domain resellers
Some domains are hosted by resellers through a separate registrar. If you cant sign in with your listed registrar or the registrar field is blank, your domain host may be a reseller.
If there is no reseller listed, contact the listed registrars support team for help.
Find Your Domain Name Registrar
Note
Only domains ending in .COM, .NET, and .EDU work with this tool.
On the InterNIC search page, in the Whois Search box, type your domain. For example, contoso.com.
Select the Domain option, and then select Submit.
On the Whois Search Results page, locate the Registrar entry. This entry lists the organization that provides registrar service for your domain.
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How Do I Change My Dns Or Name Servers
For people to find your website, you will need to configure DNS and set name servers. You can either use HostGator’s name servers or use third-party name servers. Either way, you would need to configure them, so your domain works with your HostGator web hosting account.
PLEASE NOTE:
Setting up name servers is an essential feature of domain management. For this, we created our consolidated guide of domain-related articles that you can use. Please see the article Domain Overview.
For our go-to articles when it comes to managing your domains, please check out the Domain How-To’s articles.
Updating A Domains Nameservers
Its very common to update a domains nameservers. Typically, someone will update the nameservers on a domain when they move to another web hosting provider. It is very important to note that when nameservers are updated to point somewhere else this changes who manages DNS for the domain . You need to be very careful not to disrupt other services on that domain.
As weve outlined above, the domains nameservers indicate where DNS is managed. If a domain has existing DNS records that you dont copy over to the new DNS provider you will see issues such as downtime or interruption in services. If those DNS records were for certain services such as email through G Suite you will see an interruption in email services if you do not replicate the G Suite MX records into the new DNS provider.
Lets go back and explore G Suite. Were going to update who manages DNS by updating our domain to point from Googles nameservers to PeoplesHost nameservers. If your DNS provider isnt Google dont worry. Once youve figured out who your domains DNS provider is youll be able to access DNS on that domain in a similar fashion as shown below.
Since Google is currently managing DNS for this example were going to log into our Google Domains account to manage the domains DNS and update where the nameservers point to. In the Google Domains dashboard click the Manage button next to the domain youre going to update.
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How Do You Speed Up Dns Propagation
A technique used to speed up DNS propagation and prevent a delay is to lower your DNS records TTL a few days in advance of making any changes so that when the change is made any old records expire more quickly. Unfortunately, most people who are having issues and trying to speed up DNS propagation only find this out after making changes and are wondering why they’re not seeing instant results.
If you have checked DNS globally, and are seeing different results locally then you may consider flushing your DNS cache, or using another DNS server. As a last resort, manually overriding your local DNS entries in your systems hosts file can also be done but should be considered a temporary measure and only works for certain record types.
Where Are Your Domain’s Nameservers Located
When you register your domain through a domain registrar, your domain is usually first pointed to your domain registrar’s nameservers.
Your domain registrar is the place where you can edit your domain’s nameservers. If you want to use these nameservers, edit your DNS records to point your domain name towards your hosting provider.
But experts suggest that you should use the nameservers provided by your web hosting. However, it depends upon your requirements and needs.
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Get The New Nameserver Values
First things first, find a list of nameservers from your new hosting provider. The information is usually provided on the companys documentation page or in the post-purchase email.
If you still cant find the info, you should contact your hosting provider.
At Hostinger, you can find all DNS-related information in Hosting -> Accounts -> Details.
The list of nameservers often look like this:
ns1.dns-parking.comns2.dns-parking.com
Web hosts usually provide two or more nameservers. Take note of all these addresses because youll need to enter them into your domain registrars control panel.
I Purchased My Domain
Sign in using your administrator account .
Next to your domain name, View Details in the Status column.
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Setting Up An A Record For Your Server
If you are hosting your own server or have a cloud server, you will need an A record pointed at the servers IP address.
| 1. In your Dyn Standard DNS account, go to My Zones/Domains. |
| 2. Click Dyn Standard DNS Service beside the domain you would like to manage. |
| 3. In the Add DNS Record section, select A from the TYPE dropdown menu and paste your servers IP address into the DATA field. |
| 4. Click Create Record.Note: Allow 24 hours to propagate around the internet. |
How To Check Dns Records Of A Domain
There are many reasons why you might need to check your domain DNS records which are propagated on the internet. For instance, your website is not available or you need to check which DNS records are shown on the internet.
Domain Name System is used to point an incoming website domain toward the IP address of the server. It means that when you open a website, the DNS records fetch the IP address of the server and serve the website.
So in this guide, I will show how to check your current domain DNS records using provided commands and online tools.
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