Domain Name Servers (DNS)

Topic: Domain Names Guides |

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Domain name is an address to your information on the Internet. You have chosen the name, you have registered it and you are paying the rent to keep it active. why? Simply because it helps your users to reach the information you have kept on the Net. You already know how important your domain name is to you and I don’t have to stress too much on that.

Still, many people are relying on their web hosting company to point their domains from one server to another especially when they switch from one web hosting company to other. To do so they have to give away the logins and passwords of their control panels, provided by their domain registrars, to manage those domains. Giving away those logins and passwords has the potential of being a security risk and is seen as a scary concept by many people.

Some web-hosting companies have developed a reputation and trust over the Internet from many years and domain owners feel safe giving their logins and passwords to them. There are few cases, however,
where a web hosting company took over the ownership of the domain name and kept it hostage to overcome a dispute with it’s customer.

It is not rocket-science to point your domain from one server to another. It is a simple procedure anyone can easily follow. So, do you think it is really worth taking the risk, especially when you could make those changes by yourself in few minutes, to point your domain from one server to another? Off course not.

Thanks needs to go to the domain registrars who have made this process simple and easy.
Every domain uses “Domain Name Servers” also called DNS servers to resolve or ‘point’ to a particular server and you can update them using the control panel provided by your registrar to manage your domain. Depending upon registrar you would need DNS name servers or IP addresses, or both.

To make the changes, first of all find out the DNS name servers of your web hosting company. Most of the web-hosting companies have their DNS name servers listed on their websites (fastest way is to search their FAQs using the key word DNS servers or name servers) or simply by asking them. It is a good idea to ask for both the DNS name servers and IP addresses. You just need Primary and Secondary name servers to make the changes, and all other name servers are for redundancy’s sake.

For example; to point your web site to M6.net’s server you have to use
the following DNS name servers or IP addresses or both.

Primary name server - ns1.mydomain.com
Primary IP address - 206.166.253.66
Secondary name server - ns1.mydomain.com
Secondary IP address - 206.166.253.69

Once you have the DNS name server details, simply login into your control panel, provided by your domain registrar, to manage your domain name. Look for the link, often called “name server”, “NS”, “domain name server”, “DNS” or “delegate”. For example

“Edit/Change DNS or NS” (used by most of the registrars)
“Change name servers”
“Edit name servers”
“Update name servers”
“Update DNS or NS”
“Pointing Information”
“Name servers”
“Delegation details”
“Current DNS setting” with option to “change/update/edit”

Once you have located the above-mentioned link, simply click on that. Depending upon your registrar it could ask you to use your own name servers or use their (registrar’s) default ones. Simply select your own name servers and it will ask for the Primary and Secondary name servers. Type your web hosting company’s DNS name severs or IP addresses (as suggested) and save your changes.

For security purpose, most of the registrars would send an email regarding these changes to your main email address, you must have provided while registering your domain name. Those confirmation emails
are simple to follow. Once you have followed the instructions given in that email, the changes you made are recorded on the main registry, and once the registry is updated your domain name would be delegated to your new servers. Most of the registrars update their registries once in 24 hours and that’s why it could take up to 24 hours for your domain to delegate from one server to another after the necessary changes and confirmations.

Hope everyone will find the above information useful. Please note that the whole process of delegation may vary slightly depending on your registrar. In some cases you may have to contact your registrar to resolve the delegation task or seek an expert’s help.

As Seen On: Tophosts.com