How do you point your domain name to your site?
DNS records determine which server your domain name will go to. Even if the website and email use the same domain name, they may run on different servers. Therefore, when moving the site, instead of deleting all records at once, proceed by determining the role of each record.
Save existing records first
Find out which organization provides authoritative nameservers and DNS management for the domain. Your registrar and DNS provider do not have to be the same. Make a copy of the current DNS list; Note the names, values, and TTL times of the A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, and TXT records. This copy makes it easy to revert to previous settings in case of an unexpected problem.
Which record does what?
- A: Redirects a name to an IPv4 address. Use the correct IP address provided by your web server.
- AAAA: Specifies the IPv6 address. A AAAA record pointing to the old server may cause some visitors to go to a different server.
- CNAME: Links a name to another name as an alias. The DNS name, not a full web address or path, is written to the destination.
- MX: Specifies the servers that accept e-mail to your domain and their priorities.
- TXT: It is used for purposes such as domain verification and email authentication. Carefully guard the values provided by your provider.
Make the change in small steps
Verify the destination information you received from your hosting provider. If you're just migrating the website, update the necessary web records without changing the email records. If you are going to change nameservers completely, prepare the new DNS zone first; Check that email and verification records are also available in the new region.
How do you check the result?
Open the main domain and the www address separately. Check that the HTTPS certificate covers the correct name, the site displays the expected content, and sending and receiving emails is in progress. Due to DNS caches, different networks may see the change at different times. Instead of changing the setting every few minutes, make sure the target records are correct and take the previous TTL time into account.
If the problem persists, include the domain name, record type you changed, time of change, and the error you see in your support request. You don't need to share your password. From the support center get help or domain name management and registration options you can review.