DNS Management

Introduction to DNS and How It Works How a DNS lookup finds its answer, why caching makes every change gradual, and which of the three parties actually holds your records. Secondary DNS and What Happens When DNS Fails DNS failure is the outage that takes everything at once, including things that have nothing to do with the website. Redundancy is cheap and the common... Understanding Apex Domains and CNAME Limits A CNAME cannot exist at the bare domain, which is why so many services work at www and fail at the root. The reason is structural, and the workarounds... Understanding DNS Propagation Why propagation takes as long as it does, how to shorten it next time, and what to expect while it runs. Understanding TTL and When to Lower It TTL is the one DNS setting that has to be changed before you need it. Lowering it during a migration does nothing for the caches that already hold the... Which DNS Record Type Do You Need Matching the record type to the task, the rules that make a choice invalid, and checking what is actually published.

How to Use TXT Records for Domain Verification Verification records accumulate for years and nobody knows which still matter. Some can be removed safely; removing the wrong one silently disconnects... Understanding A Records and AAAA Records What A and AAAA records do, why changing one is often safer than moving nameservers, and the IPv6 failure you cannot see yourself. Understanding CAA Records What CAA prevents and what it does not, adding the record correctly, and the missed authority that fails at renewal. Understanding CNAME Records How CNAME aliasing works, the single rule that causes every CNAME problem, and when to use an A record instead. Understanding DNSSEC What DNSSEC proves and what it does not, enabling it in the right order, and why removal runs in reverse. Understanding MX Records for Email How MX records direct mail, moving mail to an external provider, and the local routing step that is missed almost every time. Includes a screen recording Understanding PTR and Reverse DNS Why reverse DNS lives elsewhere, what receiving mail servers check, and the IPv6 record people miss. Understanding SRV Records How SRV differs from other records, priority versus weight, where you actually need one, and checking both halves. Understanding TXT Records What TXT records are used for and the three mistakes that make them silently fail, including the one-SPF-record rule. Understanding Wildcard DNS Records A wildcard makes every possible subdomain resolve, which is exactly what some applications need and exactly what makes a mistyped hostname silently wo...

How to Access and Use the Zone Editor in cPanel Adding and editing DNS records safely in cPanel, including the name-doubling mistake and the records you should never touch. Includes a screen recording How to Change Nameservers for Your Domain Making a nameserver change at the registrar, and recording everything beforehand so mail does not stop the moment it takes effect. How to Point a Subdomain at a Third-Party Service Choosing the record type, the CNAME exclusivity rule, whose certificate it is, SPF when they send mail, and removing it later. How to Set Up DNS for a New Domain Choosing who answers, the records a normal site needs, mail as a separate decision, TTL, and verifying each record. How to Set Up a Subdomain with DNS Creating a subdomain the right way for where it will actually be served from, plus SSL, staging use and clean removal.

How to Move DNS to a Third-Party Provider What you gain, copying every record, TTL timing, verifying before switching, proxying, and DNSSEC order. How to Plan a DNS Cutover with No Downtime A cutover feels like flipping a switch and is actually a period where two servers are both live. Planning for that period, rather than for the moment,... How to Split DNS Between Website and Email Providers Pointing a domain's website at one provider and its email at another is routine. The failure is specific and recurring: the web server keeps deliverin...

DNS Troubleshooting Guide A diagnostic order for DNS failures, starting with the check people skip and ending with the cases that are not DNS at all. How to Monitor DNS and Detect Unauthorised Changes DNS hijacking does not touch your server, so nothing on it reports a problem. The site looks fine from a cached resolver and traffic quietly goes else... How to Use dig and nslookup to Check DNS Most DNS confusion comes from asking the wrong resolver and believing the answer. Querying the authoritative server directly separates what you config...