This is Part 4 in the How Do I Get a Blog? series.
You’ve bought a domain name, a web host, you’ve inspected the cPanel. Now it’s time to take the next step– How To Issue Name Servers for Your Domain.
Remember, your domain name is separate from your hosting account. You purchase your domain name in one-, two-, or more year increments. You CAN purchase your domain name from your web host (and some offer the first domain name for free if you host the domain with them), but the two are technically separate. If you decide to purchase your domain name AND host your domain name on the web host’s servers, you can skip this tutorial entirely, because your web host will automatically issue your name servers to your domain.
Another note: See my Glossary for a detailed descriptions of terms you are unfamiliar with, if you need to.
OK, so you’ve got a domain name, great. And you purchased an account with a web host, great. Now you need to connect the two. You need to tell the two parties where to connect: this is called a name server. When you buy a domain name from a registrar, the registrar sets up an account for you to manage your domain name, and gives you the ability to issue a name server from your web host. Because there are so many different registrars and web hosts, it is too difficult for me to touch on them all here. I will instead base my tutorials on the most popular companies (and the ones I have accounts with): GoDaddy, eNom, and Hostgator.
OK, so let’s use an example of a new domain for the tutorial: MYCOOLBLOG.COM. We need to tell the domain name registrar where to “serve” this domain. We first need to obtain the name server names from the web host. When you purchase your web hosting account, your web host usually gives you this information in your “Welcome!” email. If not, you may have to log in to your cPanel to find it. If all else fails, and you cannot find it, contact your web host to get it. It will look something like ns1.1301.hostgator.com and ns2.1301.hostgator.com. A web host usually gives two or three name servers for your domain; this is as a precaution: in case some temporary glitch were to happen to the first name server, the second name server is a backup. Once you have your web host account’s name servers, you can go to your account at your domain name registrar to enter that information in.
Let’s say you purchased your new domain name, called MYCOOLBLOG.COM, at GoDaddy, and you purchased your web hosting account at Hostgator. You’ve got the name servers for Hostgator: ns1.1208.hostgator.com and ns2.1209.hostgator.com. You’re going to go to GoDaddy and log in to the account you made there when you purchased my domain name. Once you’re logged in, look for “Manage Domains.” Click it.
You will be led to a new page, the Manage Domains page. Look for your domain name that you purchased, and select the box. Click on the icon NAMESERVERS.
In the new window, choose the button that says, “I host my domains with another provider.” Then, you enter in your web host’s name servers. Be exact and check your typing.
Save the information, and you are done!
It may take a few hours for the new changes to propagate across the world wide web, so you may not see any changes immediately.
Another popular domain name registrar is eNom. Their interface is a lot different than Godaddy’s, but you can see from the screenshot below that the basic idea is the same.
For eNom, after you login, you will need to look for DNS Information, then DNS Settings, and then choose the “Custom” radio button. This will enable you to select the “Edit” button that is to the right (and out of view) of this screenshot. Enter in the host’s name servers and save.
In Summary:
- Name servers “serve” the domain name to the viewing public. When you buy a domain name from a registrar, the registrar sets up an account for you to issue your host’s name servers for your domain.
- You must find you web host’s name servers. This is usually in the Welcome email after you have purchased an account; or in the cPanel information. If you cannot find it, contact your web host.
- Sign in to your domain name registrar account. Look for “Nameserver” icon at GoDaddy; or look for “DNS Settings” at eNom.
- Click the button that say you host your domain with another provider. Enter in the name servers in the boxes. Click “OK.”
- It may take a few hours for the domain name information to propagate across the web.
<<< Return to Part 3: What is the cPanel?
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March 26th, 2010 at 3:05 pm
Thanks for the help – I’m setting up some sites and was both rusty and a bit confused before coming across this.
March 30th, 2010 at 6:19 pm
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