Using default nameservers vs. hosting nameservers

Nameserver is a server on the Internet specialized on handling queries about location of domain name’s various services.

Nameservers are a fundamental part of Domain Name System. They allow to use domains instead of IP addresses. It is like contacting your friend by phone: before calling, you look up his telephone number or write it down not to enter the numbers each time.

In easy words, nameservers define your domain’s current DNS provider.

Most domain name registrars provide DNS services. There is also Free DNS service. Free DNS is a DNS hosting service provided to help people whose domain registrars do not include DNS hosting with domain registrations.

With dreamlineit.com, you can either use Free DNS (you can learn more here) or DNS provided with domain registration and hosting services.

When you get the domain with us, the following name servers are provided by default:

dns1.registrar-servers.com
dns2.registrar-servers.com
dns3.registrar-servers.com
dns4.registrar-servers.com
dns5.registrar-servers.com

Thus, they are called default nameservers (the ones provided with domain name registration).

Once the domain appears in your Dream Line IT Solution account dashboard, you can go ahead and edit its DNS records through All Host Records menu.

It can be done in the following way:

1. Log in to your Dream Line IT Solution account

2. Navigate to the left-side upper menu bar and point mouse at [Hi username], then click on Manage Domains

3. Choose the domain in question and click on it

4. Navigate to the left side menu widget and find All Host Records menu

NOTE: All Host Records menu is visible when Dream Line IT Solution default name servers are used only. The absence of this menu means the domain is pointed to third-party name servers.

The menu you got redirected to is the one which should be used for your domain DNS management – here you can edit all most common types of DNS records.

The menu is divided into several pats: Domain Settings, Sub-Domain Settings, Mail Settings and SRV Settings.

Domain Settings

Two fields can be edited here, @ and www, where:

– @ stands for domain (a)
– www stands for www subdomain (b)

Sub-Domain Settings

Here you can create different subdomains for your domain and edit DNS records correspondingly.
E.g., if you need test.domain.com to be pointed to your server IP, the record for it can be created in the following way:

1) Insert 3rd level domain (test in our case) for Host Name.

2) Choose corresponding RECORD TYPE (A-Address in our case) and insert the needed IP address in IP ADDRESS/URL field.

3) Set TTL and save the changes

Mail Settings

MX records specify the mail server(-s) responsible for accepting email messages on behalf of a recipient’s domain. This menu will help you to set up the necessary MX records. There are several options available:

  None (Email will not work) – the email services for your domain will not work

Dream Line IT Solution Open-Xchange™ Mail – should be checkmarked when using our Private Email service, you can check our plans here

Free Email Forwarding – allows to create personalized e-mail addresses for a domain and forward emails to other email addresses of your choice. This option is provided only for domains pointed to our default nameservers. The setup guide can be found here

User (Mail Server’s Host Name Required) – allows to switch to Google Apps DNS records, Dream Line IT Solution Email Hosting or create your own MX records:

HOST NAME – domain (or subdomain) you create custom MX records for. If you create MX record for domain.com – @ should be inserted, for test.domain.com subdomain – use test.

MAILSERVER HOST NAME – the host name of a mail server responsible for accepting email messages on a behalf of your domain/subdomain.

MX PREF – if your domain has more than one MX record, the mailer has to figure out which one to use. MX records use a field called preference to determine the priority. The less number is, the hifger priority will be.

TTL – the time which indicates how long it will be untill the record is updated in DNS caches.

User Simplified (One Mail Server IP Address Required) – allows to specify IP address for mail.domain subdomain. It will be actually the IP of a mail server responsible for accepting email messages

SRV Settings

The menu allows you to create SRV records for your domain/subdomain. The setup guide can be found here.

    A brief description of all DNS records that can be added on our default nameservers can be checked here.

Once you decided to use hosting services with us, when it comes to connecting the domain to your hosting account, it is possible to use hosting nameservers. The server your account created on will act also as a DNS server, which means you will be able to use it not only for web hosting but for DNS hosting as well.

With our shared hosting plans it is recommended to use our shared hosting or cluster nameservers.

A DNS cluster is a group of the servers, that share records and act like a single system.

Once your hosting account is active, you can connect a domain with it by pointing to the following name servers:

dns1.dlitshosting.com
dns2.dlitshosting.com

If your domain is registered with us, follow the guide here to switch the nameservers to our shared hosting ones.

NOTE: once the nameservers for your domain are changed, it may take up to 24-72 hours for the DNS propagation to complete.

From now on the DNS requests will be sent to the hosting nameservers which will forward these requests to the exact server your account is located on.

As we provide cPanel hosting, the DNS records for a domain will be managed through Advanced DNS Zone Editor menu:

The detailed guide on how to create most common DNS records in cPanel can be found here.

As for setting up MX record, cPanel provides a separate menu called MX Entry in Mail section. Detailed MX setup guide can be found here.

To set up URL redirect for your domain in cPanel, refer to this article.

Below you can find the table of the main differences between our default and shared hosting nameservers:

 

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