If you’re considering moving your site to a new hosting provider, you may be wondering what domain registration means. You may be concerned that changing your web host will prevent your visitors from accessing your content.
Therefore, it is important to understand what name servers and Domain Name System (DNS) are and how they work. This knowledge will help you manage your relocation effectively.
This article examines name servers and DNS records. It also shows how to navigate the main parts of this site. Let’s begin!
Name Servers with DNS Records: What They Are and What They Do
A name server associates a domain name with the Internet Protocol (IP) address of the server hosting your website. Thanks to the name generator, browsers such as Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox can direct users to the correct page when entering a site address.
For example, if you type “myblog.com” into Google, your name provider will tell your browser where Google is located (ie, the address of your web host). Without this information, the browser cannot display the site.
Name servers are part of a database on the Internet called the Domain Name System (DNS). It is part of the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and Internet Protocol (IP) systems and defines how computers communicate over the Internet and private networks.
DNS plays an important role because it helps translate simple domain names (like myblog.com) into IP addresses (like 12.34.56.78). Basically, DNS works like a phone book. This includes records of web devices such as computers and servers and their associated IP addresses.
Each domain has its own DNS record, including name servers. This is created when you register a domain name with your hosting provider or domain registrar. Name servers therefore refer to the IP addresses of hosts or domain name registrars.
How do browsers find your website?
Everything connected to the Internet, such as websites and servers, has an IP address. There are millions of IP addresses in use worldwide, and they are all unique. A site has its own IP address that is assigned by the host.
However, the domain name must match the site’s IP address. For example, when you type a site’s URL in the address bar, your browser tries to go to the corresponding page. To do this, the user takes several hidden steps.
First, the browser connects to the target site’s domain registrar. The registrar then directs the browser to the target website’s hosting provider (eg .com). When your browser accesses your web host, it will look for matching name servers (such as ns1..com).
As a user, I don’t accept extra steps because the process is faster. This is an important step. Otherwise, users won’t be able to find or visit your site.
How to Use Name Servers and DNS Records
Knowing how to access your domain’s DNS records on your name servers can help you plan for a smooth transition to a new host. Let’s take a look at the different ways you can access and organize these important notes.
Access and manage name servers
You can find your domain name servers in your web hosting account. This is also documented on your hosting company’s documentation page.
Domain name servers managed by :
- ns1.example.com
- ns2.example.com
- ns3.example.com
users can also view their name servers by logging into their hosting account. To get started, go to Websites > Manage Websites in the side menu.
Then find the domain you want to change and click the DNS tab on the right side of the screen. This will take you to the Name Servers page.
If your domain is registered with another company, you cannot update the name servers from your account. To manage your name servers, you need to log in to the account of the company that manages your domain.
If your domain is registered with , you can change your name servers. For example, if you want to change an existing name server, you can remove it from the box and enter a new name server.
You can also manage your domain from the account registration page. For more on this topic, check out our complete guide to editing nameservers on .
Alternatively, you can do a WHOIS search to find your website’s name servers. Because nameservers are a public registry, this information can be accessed by external tools.
Several sites offer this service, such as Lookup.icann.org.
Enter the domain in the search bar and a list of records will appear. For example, the name server is google.com:
Note that a WHOIS lookup may reveal personal information such as domain owner names and email addresses. Some hosting providers and domain registrars offer WHOIS encryption to protect your identity.
Access and manage DNS records
Finding and managing DNS records is easy. You can change your notes by logging into your hosting account. If your domain is managed by a third party, you will need to sign in to that company’s account as a domain name registrar.
If you have a account, your DNS records are on the same page as your name servers.
You can add a new DNS record to your domain by clicking the blue Add Record button. As you know, there are many different types of recordings that can be made. Let’s look at something more general.
Register
Address records are the most basic type of DNS record. Domains (or subdomains) are used to represent IP addresses.
CNME Record
Canonical name records refer to other domains on the other side of your IP address. This is used when your site has a subdomain like shop.myblog.com or donation.myblog.com.
This is a subdomain of myblog.com. Assume that each subdomain has a CNAME record for “myblog.com”. Since DNS looks up IP addresses, accessing the CNAME record will result in an additional lookup for myblog.com (since that value is in the CNAME file).
It then returns the IP address stored in the “A” record of myblog.com. This means that this subdomain is an alias of the main domain, and the official name (or “real name”) of this subdomain is actually “myblog.com”.
MX Records
Email lists are used to send email to addresses registered on your domain (such as [email protected]) using the standard Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) email protocol.
It’s important to make sure your MX records are pointing to the correct email server. Otherwise, the email will not be sent to your account. We recommend backing up your email before moving to another host.
N.S. Record
As mentioned earlier, this is a name server record. You can use this setting to point your name servers to a new hosting provider.
TXT File (Text)
This text allows you to insert DNS records. Originally, TXT files were designed for people to take notes, such as site descriptions and building descriptions. However, it may contain machine-readable information.
This log helps protect your site from spam. This allows you to verify your domain, including adding verification records for Google Sites. Most websites have multiple TXT records.
Monitor your DNS records
DNS distributions should be considered when updating name servers and other domain records. This is the time it takes to update DNS records on the Internet. For example, when you point your name servers to a new hosting company, it can take up to 72 hours for the change to take effect.
offers a DNS Delivery Checker to help you track your records. To use this tool, simply click on DNS Checker on your records page.
On the next page, you can see the website’s current IP address and DNS record information. Our interactive map shows the location of your records on name servers in various locations.
A green icon on the map indicates that the DNS is new for the specified location. At the same time, the Red Cross identified a possible DNS server problem.
If you see a lot of red crosses, it means you registered your domain with a company that doesn’t have DNS. However, this may indicate that the new DNS settings have not been updated.
An overview of name servers and DNS
During the process of migrating your website to a new host, it is helpful to have an understanding of the workings of nameservers and DNS records. It is absolutely necessary for your domain name to point to the appropriate nameserver. Visitors to your website will not be able to access your pages otherwise.