DNS hosting for website with external web/email hosting

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timmmay

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#171484 20-Apr-2015 13:05

I have a friend in the USA who runs a small business. They have standard web hosting, but they're just about to move their website to a hosted CMS which lives in Amazon, and email is with Google. That means the web host won't actually be used, other than to serve DNS. It'll still cost them $150/year. Their registrar is GoDaddy.

I think the only thing the website is used for it to set A/CNAME/MX records. The control panel is pretty rubbish, so it will all have to be done by the helpdesk anyway. With my hosting I can set the DNS for domains and subdomains easily.

Is there a way to host DNS somewhere cheaply, without hosting a website? I have found GoDaddy DNS hosting, which is only $3/month. Does anyone have any thoughts or experience with this?

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#1287700 20-Apr-2015 13:11

The domain registrar? I use Domains4Less then log into the www.controlpanel.co.nz for most domains I manage, free and haven't had any outages for a long time.

Sorry didn't see the registrar was GoDaddy. Pretty sure GoDaddy have free DNS hosting if you use them as the registrar

Dynamic

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#1287708 20-Apr-2015 13:17

We love FreeParking.co.nz for this exact reason. Most of our clients use them for DNS, and frequently have the web site with the site developer's pet hosting company.

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timmmay

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#1287711 20-Apr-2015 13:18

I had a quick look at the GoDaddy site. It looks like you can specify your name servers, of course, but to do any more you have to purchase web hosting. I could be wrong, I'm not a GoDaddy fan. I noticed that NameCheap offers free DNS hosting - I use NC and like them.

timmmay

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#1287712 20-Apr-2015 13:19

Sorry should've mentioned before the friend is in the USA.

freitasm

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#1287713 20-Apr-2015 13:20

Cloudflare. Just use Cloudflare for the free DNS.

timmmay

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#1287725 20-Apr-2015 13:33

freitasm: Cloudflare. Just use Cloudflare for the free DNS.

Why didn't I think of that?! I already use CF so that'd be a no brainer.

itxtme

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#1287734 20-Apr-2015 13:39

??? I thought you were AWS certified. Route53 for the win (should cost less than a couple dollars a month)!

EDIT: Pricing
$0.50 for one hosted zone, $0.40 for 1 million queries

Total $0.90

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timmmay

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#1287739 20-Apr-2015 13:48

I am AWS certified, and of course I know about Route 53. IMHO AWS is good for larger companies, but it's possibly too confusing for people who are less technical, and I think it's overkill setting up an AWS account just for Route 53. I was looking for simpler, more end user centric solution. Cloudflare or NameCheap will both do the job cheaply and with a nice simple interface.

It's like using AWS Glacier for backup... a great service, technically, but a bit of a nightmare to try to do manually. In that case you need backup software to do it for you.

mattwnz

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#1287754 20-Apr-2015 14:08

I would also suggest Cloudflare. But it does also depend on how much support and hand holding they need. Cloudflare is all DIY, but if they need support and handholding then using their registrars DNS services maybe the way to go. It is the support that costs companies to provide these services. So often the model you now see is free services, but you pay for support (and it is often a lot relatively speaking).

itxtme

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#1287814 20-Apr-2015 15:40

Yep fair call, sorry thought you were going to throw them onto your account. I can see why you would not [free help forever] want to do this

mattwnz

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#1287820 20-Apr-2015 15:56

itxtme: Yep fair call, sorry thought you were going to throw them onto your account. I can see why you would not [free help forever] want to do this

Yes, it maybe cheap for them, but not cheap in terms of time for the OP :) I think even $5 per month is reasonable if you get support included.

timmmay

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#1287894 20-Apr-2015 17:33

Exactly, I don't want to do it forever, I want to help set 'em up then get not have to worry about it :)