Knowledge base
Both work. One hands us the whole domain, the other hands us one name. Here is when each is right.
The difference is who is authoritative for the domain.
You are handing us the whole zone. Every record — the website, the mail, the verification records for other services — is then managed on our DNS screen.
Choose this when you want certificates, mail records and DNS to be set up for you, and when nobody else needs to add records.
You keep the zone wherever it is and add one record pointing a name at us.
Choose this when another team or another provider runs your DNS, when the domain has records you cannot move, or when only a subdomain should come here.
Nothing about the site. Both give you the same hosting, the same certificate and the same speed. The only real difference is where you go to change a record afterwards.
Do not do both halfway. Changing the nameservers to us and also leaving an old A record at the previous provider does not blend the two — the nameservers win, and the old record is simply ignored. People then edit the ignored one for an hour and conclude DNS is broken.
⛔ Change them only when the domain's page here shows its DNS zone ready, with the website and your e-mail records in it. The moment the nameservers move, the old provider's records stop answering — a zone without your mail records means your e-mail stops too.
If your site already works through the DNS you have, keep it. Nothing is gained by moving, and a site moved to us from PBN.LTD keeps its DNS there for good (see My site was moved here from PBN.LTD). Use only the nameservers shown on your domain's page — every domain has its own pair.
A pair of nameservers we give you only works while its zone exists. If the domain is never switched to them, our DNS provider removes that zone after a few weeks, and the old pair stops answering for your domain. The domain's page then says The nameservers we gave you for this domain have expired, and we e-mail you once.
⛔ Do not set the old pair. Press Get nameservers on the domain's page: a new zone is made with your records already in it, and the new pair is shown. Set that pair at the company where you registered the domain. Or keep your DNS where it is and use an A record instead, as above. The assistant can do the same for you if you ask it to.
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