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In order to point a domain name at a server, it is necessary to use some nameservers. These point at DNS servers which act like address books for the internet which tell visitors to your website which server your domain name is hosted on. Every domain name uses nameservers, as this is the only way visitors can access a website. To point domain names at your VPS hosting subscription we offer several options:
Your VPS is pre-installed with a DNS (Domain Name Service) server which allows you to run your own DNS service. This is tightly integrated with Parallels Plesk Control Panel which means that any domain name you add to Plesk will automatically update the associated record in the DNS server. Further, when adding/removing custom sub-domains or enabling services like mailing lists, these are also automatically updated on your DNS server within a matter of seconds without any further manual work required.
For all new VPS’s we configure some default DNS servers based on the server name you chose when ordering. These nameservers are setup automatically when your VPS is being created and can be found in your welcome email. You are not required to perform any additional configuration to get these up and running except updating your domains to use these nameservers at your domain registrar. We will fully maintain these nameservers if there are any changes required.
Your DNS servers will be automatically created in this format:
ns1.your-vps-hostname.com
ns2.your-vps.hostname.com
We offer a number of advanced DNS options with varying levels of included management and support (please see our ‘Scope of DNS Management’ section below before making your choice).
This also uses the integrated DNS server, but allows you to add branding to the nameservers. You are responsible for keeping the IP address used by these nameservers updated.
It is recommended that you use a .com/net/org domain name for this if possible. If you have such a domain, you should contact our support team and we can register nameservers for you at the domain registry (any changes you require will need to be requested in future, we will not automatically maintain these nameservers for you). You will need to let us know the nameserver addresses you want (for example, ns1.yourdomain.com and ns2.yourdomain.com – don’t forget to tell us which domain to use! We recommend you to have 2 nameservers as this is required by some domain registries.)
If you do not have such a domain name, we recommend using pre-configured DNS servers as above.
There are two options here:
You can create custom nameservers using the domain control panel of your current domain registrar. You will need to provide your domain registrar with 1 or 2 IP addresses from your VPS subscription. These can be found by logging in to Layershift Customer Control Panel and clicking on the ‘System’ tab then opening the ‘Server Info’ page. As the exact process varies between domain registrars, the exact method for registering nameservers should be checked with your domain registrar support team or in their documentation or FAQ.
We can provide you with custom nameservers using a whitelabel domain name – simply let us know and we can set this up for you.
You then simply need to add domain names into Parallels Plesk Control Panel and they will automatically be added to your DNS servers. Don’t forget to point all of your domain names at your new nameservers when they have been setup. For all domains registered with us, you can do this using the following method:
Layershift Customer Control Panel and open the Home tab.Domain Management section open All My Domains.Name Servers sub-tab.Edit.Custom Name Servers you require.Save.To ensure that all visitors can access your websites, it is important to update the DNS zone template in Plesk. This is when creating domain names to create a default, ready-to-use DNS zone for each domain.
Parallels Plesk Control Panel.General Settings submenu, click DNS Template Settings in the main window.NS in the Record Type column – tick the box next to this and click Remove at the top.Note that this will not update any domains which already exist, it will only be used for new domains. If you already have domains created, you should perform the following steps to ensure the DNS zones for the domains are updated to use the correct nameservers:
Service Provider mode:Parallels Plesk Control Panel.Websites and Domains tab.DNS Settings section.Manage on the right of the domain name you want to update.Restore Defaults (recommended) or manually make the required changes.Power User mode:Parallels Plesk Control Panel.Webspaces on the top menu.You can use our DNS cluster and point hosted domains nameservers towards our redundant nameservers located on multiple servers in multiple countries. These servers are highly reliable, but the downside is that this option requires you to manually add domains to our DNS servers in two places – in Parallels Plesk Control Panel, and in Layershift Customer Control Panel.
To use these you need to add a domain in Parallels Plesk Control Panel in the normal way. Once this is done, you should check the IP address your domain is hosted on (by clicking on your domain in Plesk, you should see this on the first screen). You need to make a note of this and do the following:
Domain Management section click All My Domains.Save.All of these domain names then need to be configured at your domain registrar to point at our DNS servers (it is recommended to use all three where possible, but this is not mandatory):
For all domains registered with us, you can do this using the following method:
Domain Management section click All My Domains.Edit.Use Provider’s Name Servers set.Save.Please keep in mind that all DNS zones will be managed only via the main control panel and the default Plesk DNS template will be ignored.
Many domain registrars offer an external DNS service which you can use, but in many cases these are unreliable and we do not recommend these are used. If you still wish to proceed with this option you will need to determine the IP address your domain is configured to use on our servers, and provide this to your DNS provider to point your domain name at our servers. Any changes you make to your domain inside Parallels Plesk Control Panel, such as adding sub-domains or enabling mailing lists, will need to be configured manually by you or your DNS provider in their systems.
Service Provider mode:Parallels Plesk Control Panel.Domains on the left-menu.Webspaces on the top menu.Switch to webspace.Websites and domains tab on the top menu.DNS settings.We support a wide range of DNS management options with varying levels of support.
Of course our friendly support team are available 24×7 to advise you on which DNS records to create even for DNS services hosted elsewhere.
| Situation | Responsibility for changes | Point of support |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-configured DNS servers (e.g. ns1/ns2.vpshostname.com) | Layershift | Layershift |
| Layershift redundant DNS cluster (dns1/2/3.transnexis.net) | Layershift | Layershift |
| Private nameservers on domains registered with Layershift (ns1/ns2.yourdomain.com) | Customer | Layershift |
| Private nameservers on domains registered elsewhere (ns1/ns2.yourdomain.com) | Customer | Your domain registrar |
| External DNS servers (ns1/ns2.dnsprovider.com) | Customer | Your DNS provider |
Additional Note 1: We will fully manage your DNS servers including updates if you change IP address or request migrations of your services between our datacentres except where “responsibility for changes” is shown as Customer. In such cases you are responsible for requesting changes, even if your domain is registered via Layershift.
Additional Note 2: Using our pre-configured DNS servers are strongly recommended so we can fully manage this aspect of your hosting service.