How Do I… Change my DNS?
One of the most common domain related tasks that we get asked about here is changing DNS. I know, you’re probably thinking, “what the heck is DNS?” Don’t get tied up in the tekkie talk! Today we’ll run through why you might need to change your DNS and how you’ll do it in Account Manager!
Your hosting package is the place where all of the information and content that makes up your website is stored. It also holds your domain related email. (To learn more about what webhosting is, check out this great article in our Education Center: http://www.networksolutions.com/education/what-is-web-site-hosting/) So, if you’re looking to have your website and email work together with your domain, you’ll need to get the domain and hosting “connected.” How do you do it? It’s not as scary as it seems. All you need to do is point your domain to your hosting provider’s DNS or “Domain Name Servers.”
There are plenty of options when it comes to changing your DNS. You’ll first need to determine where your website and email content are held. Your hosting provider will give you the DNS or Domain Name Servers that you’ll need to point to! Whether you’ve got your content hosted with Network Solutions or another hosting provider, we can help you point your domain in the right direction. If you haven’t started your webhosting just yet, be sure to check out nsHosting packages!
How Do I Do It?
Follow these steps to change where your domain is pointing once you’re logged into Account Manager:
- Click My Domains
- Click on the domain you want to change
- Click the button, Change Where Domain Points
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- To point your domain to your Network Solutions® Hosting Package, select My Network Solutions® Hosting Package
- To point your domain to a page that says your site is Under Construction until your site is ready, select Under Construction Page
- To point your domain to another hosting provider, select Domain Name Server and click Continue.
- To point your domain to specific more advanced DNS records, select Advanced DNS.
Please Note: (Advanced DNS Manager is for advanced users only! We’ll talk more about this option in an upcoming post!)
- Click Continue
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- If you selected to point your domain to your Network Solutions Hosting Package, click Continue, confirm your changes, and click Apply Changes.
- If you selected to point to an Under Construction page, view the 2 examples on the next page, select which Under Construction page you prefer, and click Continue. Confirm your changes and click Apply Changes.
- If you selected to point your domain to another hosting provider, enter the domain name servers (Your hosting provider will give you these names and they are usually in a format like this: ns1.nameserver.com). Confirm Your Changes and click Apply Changes.
And that’s all there is to it!
How Long Does It Take?
Once you make the changes in Account Manager, it does take some time for the Internet to get the message that your domain is pointing to a new place! This period of time is most commonly referred to as “propagation” and can take a maximum of 24-72 hours to complete. While the Internet is updating, it is highly likely that your website and email will not be working normally for everyone. Some folks may not see your site and you will most likely not be able to send/receive email during this time. It is for this reason that we recommend making changes like this during off peak hours for your business. For example, if your business operates Monday-Friday, you’d want to make this type of change on a Friday night so that by the time you return on Monday, the changes are complete!
If you want to learn more about webhosting and changing DNS, there are some great resources available in our Education Center:
That’s it for this week’s installment of How Do I! We’re always looking for other topics you’d like to learn more about, so feel free to let us know what you’d like to see here in the How Do I Series! You can comment below, connect with us on Facebook, or tweet @netsolcares with #nsHowTo!
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