DNS Customization Guide
You can access this free service through your Account Manager under "Additional Services." A detailed DNS Help Menu is available in the Account Manager.
The DNS customization tool enables customers with advanced technical domain knowledge to make and manage unlimited changes to a Domain Name Zone File. Be aware that your name servers must be pointing to DomainPeople's name servers in order to use this service. |
What You Can Do
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| The Domain Name Zone File is a text file stored on a name server that contains all the information pertaining to a domain. The Customizable DNS service allows you to specify the following zone file additions and modifications: |
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A records |
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CNAME records |
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MX records |
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Sub domains |
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TTL of each record |
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Special host entries (No-host and Catch-all) |
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A RECORDS
These records are the basis of the zone. They are used to set an IP address to correspond with a web host. The purpose of this is to set where the host will be "redirected", such as setting the "your-domain.com" host to point to the IP of the web server where the files are stored. They are also used with MX records to set up a host, "mail.your-domain.com," that points to the IP address of the mail server that will be accepting e-mail related to this domain.
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CNAME RECORDS
Creates an alias of a host name. The alias gains all properties of the original, including IP addresses and mail routes. An example of a CNAME record would be "www.your-domain.com," which would point to "your-domain.com." |
MX RECORDS
MX Records set the location of the server that all electronic mail will be sent to. A domain name can have multiple mail routes, each one with its own entry, and each given a numerical priority. The lower the number, the higher the priority. If one fails, the request goes to the next in the list. MX records can only point to a host, never an IP. |
SUB DOMAINS
A sub domain, such as "whatever.your-domain.com" is set to an IP, using an A record, or a host, using a CNAME record. Two examples that almost all domains have set up are "www.your-domain.com" (typically, this is set up, and the "your-domain.com" record is not) and "mail.your-domain.com". |
TTL OF EACH RECORD
Time To Live (TTL) refers to the number of seconds remaining on a cached record before it is purged. The act of caching involves recording the response of DNS record queries to increase speed of delivery for future reference. |
SPECIAL HOST ENTRIES (No-host and Catch-all)
The No-Host option enables requests for specific sub domains to be forwarded to a specific page. For example, "ftp.your-domain.com" can be set to forward to a page that explains that this service is not supported. The Catch-all option forwards any non-existing hostname to a specific location. |
