Where is My DNS Hosted? Print

DNS records are the directions that make sure people can find your site on the internet. If you want to learn more about exactly how DNS records work, check out:

• What Is the Domain Name System (DNS)?
  
  
• What Are DNS Records?
  
  

From time to time, you'll have to make changes to your DNS records. For example, if you change IP addresses, your DNS A records will change. You'll also change DNS if you want to add SPF records to help email authentication. For these changes to work properly, it's vital to know where DNS is hosted.

DNS is hosted at your domain's nameservers. Your nameservers, and therefore your DNS, can be at one of several places:

• Cloudflare
  • lara.ns.cloudflare.com
  • will.ns.cloudflare.com
    
    
• Enom
  • dns1.name-services.com
  • dns2.name-services.com
  • dns3.name-services.com
  • dns4.name-services.com
  • dns5.name-services.com
    
    
• Hexonet
  • ns1.hexonet.net
  • ns2.hexonet.net
  • ns3.hexonet.net
  or
  • ns1.ispapi.net
  • ns2.ispapi.net
  • ns3.ispapi.net
    
    
• Private Nameservers
  • ns1.a-web-site.com
  • ns2.a-web-site.com
    
    
• Other Registrars
  • GoDaddy, Networksolutions, etc.
    
    

Discovering Where DNS Is Hosted

You can easily find out where your DNS records are hosted using your server's WHOIS entries.

1. Use a WHOIS look tool:
   
   WHOIS Lookup
   
   
2. You'll learn information about your domain name registration, including where it is registered and the nameservers you're using.
   
   

   Domain is not available for Registration
   Domain Name: ALPINEWEB.COM
   Registry Domain ID: 4112862_DOMAIN_COM-VRSN
   Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.enom.com
   Registrar URL: http://www.enom.com
   Updated Date: 2018-05-01T04:38:17Z
   Creation Date: 1997-03-27T05:00:00Z
   Registry Expiry Date: 2027-03-28T04:00:00Z
   Registrar: eNom, Inc.
   Registrar IANA ID: 48
   Registrar Abuse Contact Email:
   Registrar Abuse Contact Phone:
   Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited https://icann.org/epp#clientTransferProhibited
   Name Server: LARA.NS.CLOUDFLARE.COM
   Name Server: WILL.NS.CLOUDFLARE.COM
   DNSSEC: signedDelegation
   DNSSEC DS Data: 2371 13 2 30CD4EF1210FF5B4AF5BEF6384D08E31E9D158211026B323D6FB6750B82DDB4D
   URL of the ICANN Whois Inaccuracy Complaint Form: https://www.icann.org/wicf/
   >>> Last update of whois database: 2018-11-05T16:59:11Z 

   
   
   
3. Look specifically at the Name Server: entries. In this example, you'll see that alpineweb.com uses Cloudflare nameservers. This information tells you where you will be editing your DNS records:
   
   

Changing Nameserver Addresses

For detail and instructions on changing Nameserver Addresses, see the following Knowledgebase Article:

Changing Nameserver Addresses