Domain Name System, or DNS, is the backbone of your online presence. Every domain name uses DNS to control how visitors find your website and how you receive email. You can think of your domain name as a street address, and DNS acts as your GPS. Visitors won’t be able to find your address if the GPS isn’t able to provide the correct directions. This means that if your DNS isn’t correct, your website and email won’t work the way they should.
When you type in a domain name in your internet browser, DNS works to find the information for that domain. Domains are a friendly way for us to remember how to get to a website, but underneath that friendly name, computers talk to each other using numbers. These numbers form Internet Protocol, or IP addresses, which act as the street address of your website working under your domain name.
When you type a domain name in your address bar to visit a website, your computer is looking for the IP address of that website so it can load the website for you. This is DNS in action — you type in the street address (the domain name), DNS finds the directions using IP address (the GPS), and the internet loads the website you’re visiting.
In order to get you to your destination, DNS contains three main pieces to work properly: nameservers, zone files and records. Nameservers hold the zone file and the zone file holds the records. The records are the part of DNS that explains where your website lives or where you get your email, using IP addresses, but the records won’t work if the nameservers aren’t set up correctly.
To manage the DNS, you can add, edit or delete DNS records within your DNS Manager.
- A record: The primary DNS record used to connect your domain to an IP address that directs visitors to your website.
- Subdomain: Any DNS record that’s on a prefix of your domain name such as blog.coolexample.com. A subdomain can be created using an A record that points to the IP address (the most common), a CNAME that points to a URL, or even an MX record.
- CNAME: A type of record that also adds a prefix to your domain name and is sometimes referred to as a type of subdomain. A CNAME can’t point to an IP address. It can only point to another domain name or URL address. For example, you can create a CNAME for store.coolexample.com that points to a different URL, such as a store built with Shopify.
- MX record: Manages your email address and makes sure your email messages get to your inbox. Different email services use different MX records, and email with Secure Server is automatically set up for you.
- TXT record: Allows you to verify domain ownership and setup email-sender policies.
- SPF record: A type of TXT record that lets you set up email sender policies. This is an advanced type of DNS record.
- NS record: Contains information about your nameservers. Use these records to identify which nameservers you should use if your domain is not registered with Secure Server, but you want to manage your DNS with us. This is an advanced custom DNS record.
Changing Nameservers for Domains
Nameservers are your primary DNS controller, and without the correct nameserver settings, your email and website won’t work correctly. To know how to change the nameservers settings with domain registrars follow the video tutorial Free Domain Name Registration with Freenom.
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