DNS / Name server forwarding

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Gozer

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#204263 24-Sep-2016 06:35

So I have some small shared hosting, and I let a small number of people share it with me.

These people all have their own different domain registrars: Free parking, 1st domains and others. (so that they deal direct to them for billing)

So currently they all point to either the nameserver or the IP of my share hosting, but I am contemplating changing either my provider or my plan either of which will result in the name server and IP changing, obviously this time I will have to change them all but Im trying to think of a way to future proof them so that in the future I can just change my domain setting for that change.

Is it possible to setup a record somewhere on my setup to forward these requests or is this beyond the scope of what is available?

What I'm thinking would be good is...

Set all other registrars to forward: theirDomain.co.nz to DNS.mydomain.co.nz

Then at my registrar: DNS.mydomain.co.nz to IP Address or NS

My googling has shown up nothing of any relevance probably because Im using the wrong terms? or its just not done?

Does everyone else just move all the domains to one registrar and bill them as traditional customer?

Dynamic

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#1639681 24-Sep-2016 06:38

If you could make use of a CNAME record that might be nice, but the hosting server needs to know the domain name the traffic relates to, so a CNAME may not work.

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timmmay

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#1639717 24-Sep-2016 09:24

Probably not worth going to any trouble unless you expect your IP to change regularly. Just warn people of when they'll need to do something, copy everything to the new host, then tell them to change their DNS.

solutionz

589 posts

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#1639742 24-Sep-2016 10:51

Yes absolutely do this, it will save you much trouble in future.

You say some customers are using your shared host's name-servers. This means that their DNS records are hosted by your shared host.

On a domain you own create 4x A-records pointing to your shared host's DNS servers:

A: ns1.mydomain.com > 123.123.12.1
A: ns2.mydomain.com > 123.123.12.2
A: ns3.mydomain.com > 123.123.12.1
A: ns4.mydomain.com > 123.123.12.2

Your host may only provide 2x DNS servers in which case just duplicate the IPs as for future redundancy we give your clients 4x (so if you move to a new host that supplies 4x DNS servers you just have to change the NS3 & NS4 records rather than updating every one of your clients name-servers).

Next change your clients name-servers to point to the above.

You also say some customers are (presumably hosting their own DNS) and simply pointing an A-record to your shared server IP.

i.e. A: www.theirdomain.com > 111.222.111.22 (Your shared host)

On your domain create another A-record pointing to your shared hosts IP:

A: ws1.mydomain.com > 234.234.23.1
A: ws2.mydomain.com > 234.234.23.2 (additional A-records for different servers)

Ask your customers to delete their corresponding A-record and replace it with a CNAME pointing to your corresponding record.

e.g. CNAME: www.theirdomain.com > ws1.mydomain.com

When you change hosts now you only need to change the corresponding records on your end without your customers having to do anything.

For all of your A-records I recommend setting a low TTL like "7200" (2 hrs) to ensure any changes you make propagate quickly.

In saying that I would also recommend that you consider using a reliable DNS provider independent of your web hosting such as AWS Route 53; which will probably cost you < $3 per month.

Gozer

184 posts

Master Geek

#1640064 25-Sep-2016 00:20

Turns out it really is as easy as it sounds, as above just add NS1.YourDomain.co.nz to your dns.

One thing to watch out for if others try this without being 100%, I had trouble with various things if I had hosting and DNS in different locations, if you have hosting and name registration in different locations make sure you use name server forwarding and do all the dns options at the hosting. Alternatively VPS usually has "private name server" options to do all of this with greater ease.