You can find a simplified version of this guide in the article Getting Started – DNS.
This article covers the automatic setup of a domain’s DNS records for a particular hosting service (Webhosting, WebSite, VPS and others). If you need to redirect a domain (that is, point one domain to another domain), follow the guide Domains – Basic Redirection.
In this article you will learn:
- What pointing DNS to services means
- How to point a domain quickly (works for domains and DNS records with VEDOS)
- How to point DNS manually
- Common problems
- Frequently Asked Questions
Pointing DNS to services
DNS is a system of records that assign IP addresses (easy for computers to read) to domains (easy for people to read). A typical domain needs these records to find, at the very least, the IP address of its webhosting and the location of its email server. You can find more information about the basic records in the article DNS – Domain Records.
A change to DNS records typically takes effect within 1-2 hours (regardless of where the change was made).
These records are stored on DNS servers. These servers are often managed by the registrar of the given domain, but this is not a rule. You can have your domain with one registrar and its DNS records with another.
A change of DNS servers can take up to 48 hours. During this time, DNS queries may be directed to both the new and the old servers.
Pointing DNS to services therefore means writing DNS records with IP addresses or service names to the selected DNS servers (NSSET).
Quick pointing
Quick pointing of DNS records typically takes effect within 1 hour.
If your domain, its DNS records and the target services are all with VEDOS, you can point the domain without editing the DNS records yourself:
- Log in to the Customer Administration ⧉.
- In the top menu, select the tab Domains.
- Select the domain you want to point to a service.
- In the left menu, select Service DNS record settings.
- Select the service (or services) to which you want to point the domain (or subdomains).
- You can point a domain to at most one service of your choice.
- You can point subdomains to services of the same name or to aliases of Webhosting, Mailhosting, WebSite or WMS.
- Click the button Set.
Setting DNS to Webhosting, WebSite or WMS
Pointing to Webhosting, WebSite or WMS overwrites the relevant A (or AAAA), CNAME and MX records of the domain; other records remain unchanged. If you have a service created for a subdomain (for example, webhosting sub.domain.tld), you can point it separately here.
Automatic setting of DNS records to Webhosting, WebSite or WMS changes MX records. If you use email services from a provider other than VEDOS, consider setting the DNS records manually.
Setting to Mailhosting
Pointing to Mailhosting overwrites only the relevant MX records of the domain or subdomain.
Setting DNS to Serverhosting, VPS ON, Cloud
The setting overwrites only the relevant A records (if available); the others remain unchanged. Any further routing inside the system is fully up to the administrator of the virtual server or cloud.
Setting DNS to WEDOS Global
Pointing overwrites only the relevant A (or AAAA) records. Set the target IP addresses in the WEDOS Global interface according to the external guide Protection – DNS and Target IP Addresses ⧉.
Setting to the default page
Points DNS to a page saying “The domain is registered”. The setting overwrites only the relevant A and AAAA records; the others remain unchanged.
Domain redirection
Select this option if you are redirecting email or a website on the domain, but the redirection settings did not point the domain automatically because of an error. The setting overwrites the relevant A (or AAAA) records if you are redirecting a website, and MX records if you are redirecting email. Other records remain unchanged.
Manual DNS pointing
DNS record settings typically take effect within 1 hour. A change of DNS servers can take up to 48 hours.
You can find a detailed guide to pointing DNS records manually in the article DNS – Domain Records.
Manual setup is most useful when not all of your services are with VEDOS. Typical cases are:
- Domain with another registrar: If the domain uses WEDOS DNS servers, set the DNS records manually following the guide linked above.
- Domain and DNS with another registrar: Set the DNS records manually with your registrar. Setting WEDOS DNS records will have no effect until you change, in the domain settings, the DNS servers to ours.
- Webhosting/serverhosting with another provider: Set the relevant A records. Set AAAA records as well if your hosting has an IPv6 address. If it does not, remove the original AAAA records.
- Email with another provider: Find out from your service provider the settings of the MX records, and possibly also the TXT SPF record.
Common problems
Common problems with pointing a domain to services include:
DNS record change has no effect
Problem: After pointing the domain to a service, the change had not taken effect even after 1 hour.
Cause: This problem has two most common causes:
- The domain does not use WEDOS DNS servers. If the domain does not use our DNS servers, any change you make on them will have no effect on how it works.
- The TTL value of the original record is higher than 1 hour. If the TTL parameter of the original record is 3600 or higher, the record lives for at least 1 hour, so its updates take effect more slowly.
Solution: Make sure the domain uses WEDOS DNS servers (NSSET). If the TTL value is high, wait longer.
Emails stopped arriving
Problem: Quick setup overwrote the email settings from another provider with VEDOS.
Cause: Pointing to Webhosting, WMS and WebSite services overwrites both A and AAAA recordsand MX.
Solution: Change the MX records manually following the guide of your email service provider.
Frequently Asked Questions
What if my domain is with another provider?
If your domain is elsewhere and only the DNS is with us, you must set the DNS records manually. The system performs the automatic setup only when a service is created or renamed (and, in the case of Webhosting, also when setting an alias).