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Dynadot Home Page

Name Server Settings

  1. How do I set my domain to use your Free Web Hosting service?
  2. How do I set up my default name server settings?
  3. Why is my website offline?
  4. How do I set up an email alias for my domain?
  5. Why does email forwarding not work with Gmail (Googlemail)?
  6. Are there limits to email forwarding?
  7. How do I have my domain email delivered to my email host?
  8. How do I create a CNAME?
  9. How do I set up my domain to work with Google AdSense?
  10. How do I set up my domain to work with Google Apps using a CNAME?
  11. How do I forward my domain using Advanced Dynadot DNS?
  12. How do I create an A record?
  13. When the first domain record is a CNAME, why are MX records not allowed?
  14. How do I enter a non-English language for the forwarding url?
  15. How do I park a domain?
  16. How do I set up domain forwarding?
  17. What is the Forward Status Code?
  18. How do I set up email forwarding?
  19. How do I set my domain to stealth forwarding?
  20. How do I set up email forwarding if I am using stealth forwarding?
  21. How do I set my name servers for my domain?
  22. How do I set up DNS for my domain?
  23. How do I add a Sender Policy Framework (SPF) to my MX records?
  24. My domain was registered by Dynadot, and I also use your web hosting plan. How do I set my domain's name server settings to use my Dynadot web hosting plan?
  25. I just changed my name server settings. Why are they not updated yet?
  26. Do your services use cPanel?
  27. What is Dynadot DNS?

1. How do I set my domain to use your Free Web Hosting service?

To set your domain to Free Web Hosting, please follow the steps listed below:

  1. Log into your Dynadot account.
  2. Click on the "Domains" tab in the main menu. This takes you to the Manage Domain Names page.
  3. Click on the link listed in the "Name Server" column. After the page loads, you should see your current name server choice close to the top of the page.
  4. Click on the "Free Hosting" tab.
  5. Enter a Title and Body.
  6. Click on the "Use Dynadot Free Hosting" button.

Please be aware that it might take some time for your changes to propagate.

For more information regarding HTML, please refer to the following help topics:

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2. How do I set up my default name server settings?

To set your default name server settings, follow these steps:

  1. Log into your Dynadot account.
  2. Click on the "Domains" tab in the main menu.
  3. Click on the "Advanced Settings" link in the submenu.
  4. Then click on the "Default Name Servers" link on the right-hand side column of the page.
  5. Enter in the default name server settings you wish to set for any future domains you register with us.

Now any domains registered by us will be set to your default name server settings. Please note that any domains transferred to us keep their current name servers as they enter your account, and will not be affected by these settings.

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3. Why is my website offline?

There are many reasons why you may not be able to see your website. The majority of these reasons fall into these three categories:

  • The website or the old name server settings for your domain are cached.
  • Your web host has not set up their name servers to handle web requests for your domain yet.
  • You have ordered a web hosting package for a domain name from us, but did not register the actual domain name from a domain registrar.

If your website has been cached in some manner, here are some suggestions on how to clear the cache or go around the issue:

- Press the "Refresh" button on your web browser. This will check if it is your computer that has cached the old website on your computer. If this does not work right away, try doing it again two to three more times. If it still doesn't work, then try clearing your web browser's cached history files.

- Check your domain on another computer that is using a different internet service provider (some times abbreviated as ISP) than you. Some times your internet service provider will cache commonly visited websites to save time.

- Use Altavista's Babel Fish Translation page to display your website in a foreign language. Simply type in the URL for your domain in the "Translate a Web page" field and choose one of the "English to..." options. Click the Translate button, and it will load a translated version of your domain.

Altavista will use their copy of your page instead of your ISP's cached copy; so if you see two different versions of your page, you know your ISP has cached your domain and has not refreshed it.

- Try visiting your domain without the "www" prefix. For example, if you have been checking your website using the url, http://www.mydomain.com, try visiting the url, http://mydomain.com. If you see your website as it should be on the http://mydomain.com version, then you know that your website has either been cached on your computer or by your ISP.

Note: This only works if you have never visited the http://mydomain.com version of your domain before.

If you suspect that your old name server settings have been cached, do an IP lookup to see if your new name server settings have been propagated through the system. Please read the answer to "What is an IP lookup?" question if you need help interpreting your IP lookup results.

If an IP lookup shows that your web host has not configured their name servers to serve your domain, please contact them. Ask them how long it will take for them to get their name servers set up to serve your domain.

If you have ordered a web hosting package from us but did not register the domain name at any domain registrar, you will not be able to see your website until you register the actual domain name. You need both the domain name and a web hosting plan to build a website.

Basically a domain name is like a mailing address while a web hosting plan provides the actual land space or "lot" at that address. You cannot have one without the other.

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4. How do I set up an email alias for my domain?

Please follow the steps outlined in the "How do I set up email forwarding?" question.

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5. Why does email forwarding not work with Gmail (Googlemail)?

Our email forwarding does work with Gmail. However, there is one catch. Sending an email from your Gmail account, to your domain, which then forwards back to the same Gmail account, will not work. Gmail will detect the forwarded email to yourself, and not deliver the email. We are not sure why Gmail has this behavior. All other forwarding with Gmail works fine.

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6. Are there limits to email forwarding?

Yes, we will forward up to 500 emails a day for your domain name. Any emails above that limit will not be accepted by our email forwarding server. The email will either bounce, or be delayed until you are under your 500 email limit again.

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7. How do I have my domain email delivered to my email host?

To set up a domain's MX records, please follow these steps:

  1. Log into your Dynadot account.
  2. Click on the "Domains" tab in the main menu. This takes you to the "Manage Domain Names" page.
  3. Place a checkmark next to your domain name and then press the "Set Name Servers" button.
  4. Look for the "Email Forwarding Settings" box at the bottom of the page.
  5. Click on the radio button next to the "Deliver email to another mail host (MX record)" option.
  6. Enter up to 3 mail hosts from your email provider.
  7. The distance specifies the priority of the mail hosts. 0 is the highest priority, and email will be delivered to that email host first. If you don't know what to enter here, just enter 0.
  8. Click the "Save Email Settings" button to save your changes.

Please note that this only applies when your domain is using our name servers. If you are using someone else's name servers, you will need to set up your MX records on those name servers.

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8. How do I create a CNAME?

To create a CNAME:

  1. Log into your Dynadot account.
  2. Click on the "Domains" tab at the top of the page.
  3. Check the box next to the domain name and then press the gray "Set Name Servers" button.
  4. Click on the "DNS" tab.
  5. For your first domain record, select "Forward" as the type and enter "http://www.yourdomainname.ext" as the Target Host.
  6. For your first subdomain record, enter "www" as the subdomain, select "CNAME" as the record type and enter the CNAME record given to you.
  7. Press the gray "Use Dynadot DNS" button.

Your settings should look similar to what is shown here.










Please note, it might take some time for your changes to propagate.

A CNAME may be necessary for your domain to work with the following: Blogger, Blogspot, TypePad, iweb, MobileMe, zenfolio, ning

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9. How do I set up my domain to work with Google AdSense?

To set up your domain to work with AdSense, please follow these steps:

  1. Log into your Google AdSense account to get your publisher number, it will look like pub-###.afd.ghs.google.com.
  2. Log into your Dynadot account.
  3. Click on the "Domains" tab at the top of the page.
  4. Check the box next to the domain name and then press the gray "Set Name Servers" button.
  5. Click on the "DNS" tab.
  6. For your first domain record, select "A" as the type and enter the IP address from the AdSense setup guide as the Target Host. You do not need to enter four records as indicated in their guide.
  7. For your first subdomain record, enter "www" as the subdomain, select "CNAME" as the record type and enter your publisher number "pub-###.afd.ghs.google.com" as the Target Host.
  8. Press the gray "Use Dynadot DNS" button to save your changes.


Your settings should look similar to what is shown here.










Please note, it might take some time for your changes to propagate.

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10. How do I set up my domain to work with Google Apps using a CNAME?

How do I set up my domain to work with Google Apps?

  1. Log into your Dynadot account.
  2. Click on the "Domains" tab at the top of the page.
  3. Check the box next to the domain name and then press the gray "Set Name Servers" button.
  4. Click on the "DNS" tab.
  5. For your first domain record, select "Forward" as the type and enter "http://www.yourdomain.ext" as the Target Host.
  6. For your first subdomain record, enter "www" as the subdomain, select "CNAME" as the record type and enter "ghs.google.com" as the Target Host.
  7. For your second subdomain record, enter your verification string as the subdomain, select "CNAME" as the record type and enter "google.com" as the Target Host. Your verification string will look like googlefffggghhh12345.
  8. You can enter your MX records and distances in the boxes directly below the "Subdomain Records" boxes.
  9. Press the gray "Use Dynadot DNS" button to save your changes.


Your settings should look similar to what is shown here.










Please note, it might take some time for your changes to propagate.

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11. How do I forward my domain using Advanced Dynadot DNS?

In order to forward a domain using Advanced Dynadot DNS, please follow these steps:

  1. Log into your Dynadot account.
  2. Click on the "Domains" tab at the top of the page.
  3. Check the box next to the domain name and then press the gray "Set Name Servers" button.
  4. Click on the "DNS" tab.
  5. For your first domain record, select "Forward" as the type and enter a url as the Target Host.
  6. For any subdomain record, enter any value for your subdomain, for example "www" or "mail" and select "Forward" as the record type and enter a url as the Target Host.
  7. Press the gray "Use Dynadot DNS" button to save your changes.

Please note, it might take some time for your changes to propagate.

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12. How do I create an A record?

To create an A record, please follow these steps:

  1. Log into your Dynadot account.
  2. Click on the "Domains" tab at the top of the page.
  3. Find your domain on the list and check the box next to it. Press the "Set Name Servers" button.
  4. Click on the "DNS" tab.
  5. You'll need to create two records. In the domain require record, select "A" from the drop down and then enter your IP address.
  6. In the next line down, enter "www" as the subdomain, select "A" from the drop down and then enter your IP address.
  7. Press the "Use Dynadot DNS" button to save your changes.

Please Note: It may take anywhere from 20 minutes to 24 hours for your DNS changes to propagate
Wix Hosting

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13. When the first domain record is a CNAME, why are MX records not allowed?

RFC 1034 published by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) recommends the following:

"If a CNAME resource record is present at a node, no other data should be present; this ensures that the data for a canonical name and its aliases cannot be different. This rule also insures that a cached CNAME can be used without checking with an authoritative server for other resource record types."

A workaround for this issue is described in the following help topic: "How do I create a CNAME?"

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14. How do I enter a non-English language for the forwarding url?

International Domains
Sometimes you may want to forward your domain to an international domain name (IDN). In this case, use Punycode to specify the IDN you want to forward to. Punycode is the Ascii representation of an international domain name.

Example: http://www.xn--sanjos-gva.com

  • forward your domain to www.SanJosé.com

International Characters in the rest of the URL
Sometimes you may want to use international characters in the rest of the URL, outside the domain name. You can use any character encoding you want, including Chinese Big-5, Japanese Shift-Jis, or Russian. When entering your url, make sure your browser is displaying the page in the encoding you want to use. Otherwise the web browser will send us your url in the wrong format.

Example: http://www.mydomain.com/?keyword=José

  • forward to website www.mydomain.com
  • send a parameter 'keyword' with the value 'José'
  • web browser should be set to ISO Latin 1 so that the accent mark is properly encoded when it is sent to us

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15. How do I park a domain?

To park your domain (also known as domain parking), please follow these steps:

  1. Log into your Dynadot account.
  2. Click on the "Domains" tab in the main menu.
  3. Click on the link listed in the "Name Server" column. After the page loads, you should see your current name server choice close to the top of the page.
  4. Click on the "Parking" tab.
  5. You can choose between parking with no 3rd-party ads or parking with 3rd-party ads (Revenue Parking). Choose one of these two options and then click the "Park Domain" button to set your name server selection.

Please be aware that it might take some time for your changes to propagate.

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16. How do I set up domain forwarding?

To set up domain forwarding, please follow these steps:

  1. Log into your Dynadot account.
  2. Click on the "Domains" link in the main menu.
  3. Select the domains you wish to forward by clicking on the checkbox next to the domain name.
  4. Click on the "Set Name Servers" button.
  5. Click on the "Forwarding" tab.
  6. Enter the URL of the web page you wish your domain to forward to, and then click on the "Forward Domain" button to save your changes.

Please be aware that it might take some time for your changes to propagate.

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17. What is the Forward Status Code?

The forward status code is the response code sent to a web browser visiting your site if your domain is set to Dynadot Forwarding. The code tells the web browser that the domain should be forwarded to another location.


Which code should I use?

Either code, 301 or 302, can be used to forward your web page. A typical visitor to your website will not notice a difference. The different codes are mainly used for search engine optimizations.

The 301 redirect code would tell a search engine that it should use the "forward to" page in it's search results. For example, dyandot.com should be 301 redirected to dynadot.com, since we want dynadot.com to show up in the search engine results, not dyandot.com.

The 302 redirect code would tell the search engine to check back later to see which website should be used in its results. This would be useful if you are temporarily forwarding to another site while you are creating your actual site.

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18. How do I set up email forwarding?

To set up domain email forwarding, please follow these steps:

  1. Log into your Dynadot account.
  2. Click on the "Domains" tab in the main menu. This takes you to the "Manage Domain Names" page.
  3. Locate your domain and click the link listed in the "Name Server" column. After the page loads, you should see your current name server choice close to the top of the page.
  4. Click on the "Email Forwarding" tab.
  5. Click on the radio button next to the "Specify email aliases and forward them to already existing email addresses." option.
  6. Enter in the username you want for your domain email in the "Username" column. (Example: user for user@yourdomain.com)
  7. Enter an existing email address in the "Existing Email Address" column.
  8. Click the "Save Email Settings" button to save your changes.

You can specify up to 10 different email aliases. If you want to have catch-all email forwarding, enter a '*' (without the single quotes) as the username. Email sent to the specified email aliases will be forwarded to the existing email address.

Please note that this only applies when your domain is using our name servers. If you are using someone else's name servers, you will need to set up your email forwarding settings on those name servers.

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19. How do I set my domain to stealth forwarding?

To set your domain to stealth forwarding, please follow the steps listed below:

  1. Log into your Dynadot account.
  2. Click on the "Domains" tab. This takes you to the "Manage Domain Names" page.
  3. Click on the link listed in the "Name Server" column. After the page loads, you should see your current name server choice close to the top of the page.
  4. Click on the "Stealth Forwarding" tab.
  5. Enter the URL of the web page you wish to forward to along with the title of the website.
  6. Now click the "Stealth Forward Domain" button to save your changes.

Please be aware that it might take some time for your changes to propagate.

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20. How do I set up email forwarding if I am using stealth forwarding?

Please follow the steps outlined in the "How do I set up email forwarding?" question.

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21. How do I set my name servers for my domain?

To set your name servers, please follow the steps listed below:

  1. Log into your Dynadot account.
  2. Click on the "Domains" tab in the main menu. This takes you to the Manage Domain Names page.
  3. Click on the link listed in the "Name Server" column. After the page loads, you should see your current name server choice close to the top of the page.
  4. Click on the "Name Servers" tab.
  5. There are two ways to set your name servers:

    To add new name servers, look at Option 1. Enter your two name servers in the provided text boxes, and then click the "Enter Name Servers" button to save your changes.

    If you have already entered the name servers for another domain and would like to re-use them, look at Option 2. Choose the name servers from the drop down menus (you can choose up to 10 different name servers), and then click the "Select Name Servers" button to save your changes.

Please be aware that it might take some time for your changes to propagate.

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22. How do I set up DNS for my domain?

To set up DNS for your domain, please follow the steps listed below:

  1. Log into your Dynadot account.
  2. Click on the "Domains" tab in the main menu. This takes you to the Manage Domain Names page.
  3. Click on the link listed in the "Name Server" column. After the page loads, you should see your current name server choice close to the top of the page.
  4. Click on the "DNS" tab.
  5. Select the Record Type, then enter in the IP Address or Target Host of your web server in the first text box.
  6. If you have an Email Server or MX Record available for your domain email, enter in the hostname and the distance (otherwise known as priority) in the subsequent text boxes. You can also specify subdomain A records, CNAME records, email aliases (in the "Email Forwarding Settings" box), and a TXT record.
  7. Click the "Use Dynadot DNS" button to save your changes.

Please be aware that it might take some time for your changes to propagate.

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23. How do I add a Sender Policy Framework (SPF) to my MX records?

Currently, we do not have the capability to add SPF to your MX records. We may consider implementing this capability in the future.

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24. My domain was registered by Dynadot, and I also use your web hosting plan. How do I set my domain's name server settings to use my Dynadot web hosting plan?

To use your Dynadot web hosting plan, please follow these steps:

  1. Log into your Dynadot account.
  2. Click on the "Domains" tab. This takes you to the "Manage Domain Names" page.
  3. Click on the link listed in the "Name Server" column. After the page loads, you should see your current name server choice close to the top of the page.
  4. Click on the "Dynadot Hosting" tab.
  5. Select "Basic Web Hosting" or "Advanced Web Hosting" from the list of choices and then click the "Use Dynadot Hosting" button to use your Dynadot web hosting plan.

Please be aware that it might take some time for your changes to propagate.

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25. I just changed my name server settings. Why are they not updated yet?

It takes time for all of the zone name servers located all over the world to update their lists. So when you change your name server options in your Dynadot account, these changes must be updated to all zone name servers before your domain displays the correct web page. This is what people mean by waiting for their domain to resolve, since the zone name servers will, at first, contain your old name server settings until they update. Depending on the central registry (VeriSign, etc.), they may update within five minutes or (very rarely) take a whole day to update.

Use the IP lookup tool in your Dynadot account to determine if your name server settings have been propagated.

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26. Do your services use cPanel?

Our domain registration and our Basic Hosting services do not use cPanel. We do offer Advanced Hosting that uses cPanel.

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27. What is Dynadot DNS?

Dynadot DNS is a domain name server setting in which you use our name server software to resolve the IP address for your domain. In this case, however, you are the person setting the IP address for your domain and your mail servers for your domain. Therefore, the IP address you enter will need to be the IP address of a web server that will respond to web requests for your domain.

We can map both "mydomain.com" and "www.mydomain.com" to an IP address that you specify. If you have a web server at this IP address, you can now host a website. If you have an email server at this IP address, you can now receive email. You can also specify up to 3 MX records if you want your email to go to a different location than web requests. Alternatively, you can set up to 10 email aliases (including catch-all email forwarding) to forward your domain's email to an existing email address.

We also allow you to specify up to 20 subdomains using A records and CNAME records. For example, you can set the ip address or target host for "ftp.mydomain.com". Wildcards are allowed for A records. You can also specify 1 TXT record with our DNS setting.

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