DNS Provider

cav · Apr 25, 2018

I am considering being a Nominet Registrar but do not have my own server and was wondering how I "forward/redirect" all my domain names to my main website address (hosted at 1and1). Someone suggested using a DNS provider, can anybody recommend one?

p.s. can it be done from within your Nominet registrar account?

Thanks

alex · Apr 25, 2018

I use DNS Made Easy. It's cheap and really easy to use. You can set the nameservers in Nominet to DNS Made Easy and then add a HTTP redirect record into DNS Made Easy to create the redirect.

EDIT: or just add the domains to 1and1 as external domains. This is free and allows you to point the domains from Nominet to your 1and1 account. 1and1 then acts as your DNS provider.

cav · Apr 25, 2018

Thanks Alex

alex said:
I use DNS Made Easy. It's cheap and really easy to use. You can set the nameservers in Nominet to DNS Made Easy and then add a HTTP redirect record into DNS Made Easy to create the redirect.

EDIT: or just add the domains to 1and1 as external domains. This is free and allows you to point the domains from Nominet to your 1and1 account. 1and1 then acts as your DNS provider.

ian · Apr 26, 2018

Agreed, DNSmadeeasy is excellent.

uknown · Apr 26, 2018

Rackspace Cloud offers free DNS as long as you have any running service in there.

Additionally, Linode, DigitalOcean and Vultr all offer free DNS as long as you have an instance running.

Could work out cheaper to get a cloud server and all your dns for free than pay for a DNS provider

martin-s · Apr 26, 2018

You don't need any other services at Rackspace to use their DNS. And it's excellent.

Ben Thomas · Apr 26, 2018

Well, why don't you just use 1&1's hosting panel to add alias domain names and use their panel DNS to set up the redirects? Assuming 1&1 has this sort of thing as I've never used them.

cav · Apr 26, 2018

Thanks for all the great advice guys; will look into 1and1 I think as the first port of call.

stevelook2 · May 2, 2018

I use www.lowcosthosting.co.uk for all mine

Full cPanel access and uk based servers

Very reasonable, unlimited domains

Ben Thomas · May 2, 2018

Or, just spin up your own VPS at digital ocean for about £3.60 a month - install cPanel DNS Only (which is free) and run your own DNS? I'll even give you $10 free to start with. Let me know.

martin-s · May 2, 2018

I'm sorry, but it's a terrible idea to run your own DNS from a VPS when you can have ultra robust DNS from Rackspace for free... DNS shouldn't be a point of failure.

Ben Thomas · May 2, 2018

Ok, how would having multiple VPS' be a point of failure? Secondly, having a DNS owned and controlled by a third party, would not give you entire control over it. What if there's an issue with Rackspace?

Adam H · May 2, 2018

inteldigital said:
Ok, how would having multiple VPS' be a point of failure? Secondly, having a DNS owned and controlled by a third party, would not give you entire control over it. What if there's an issue with Rackspace?

DNS Made Easy and Cloudflare has so many advantages, more reliable and more cost effective.

The way you speak of doing it isn't ideal especially if the user isn't an advanced user as DNS only machines do not allow manual editing of DNS records via WHM. Also 1 machine on digitaloceans £3.60 is one location, being base level it would be a 1GB machine, any machine freshly installed today for DNS only should ideally be on Centos 7 not 6, while the minimum requirements for DNS only with Centos 7 is 1GB of Ram which is slightly higher than Centos 6.

A DNS machine running minimum requirements really isnt worth running in the first place.............Start adding clusters of 4 - 7 machines with bigger specs and it starts to make it worth while but you've got to have the need to do that.

Even then premium DNS provides better coverage, is more cost effective in time/monetary value....there are downsides to premium DNS, but for the above situation of someone managing their own domains/ and not managing clients, a cluster of VPS's is not the answer.

Ben Thomas · May 2, 2018

In honesty, I'm just in favour of keeping DNS in-house meaning I keep total control over it. I don't like relying on 3rd party services, and do so as little as possible. Cloudflare also has many disadvantages over in-house DNS, least of all it's arguable usefulness within a shared hosting environment that, I'm assuming, OP will be in.

Budget wise, it's less than £10 a month to run a bunch of VPS' at Digital Ocean, in 3 different locations. Also, a couple of things I must correct you on:

DNS Only allows you full control over DNS in WHM, I don't know why you would suggest it doesn't? That's its whole purpose. Digital Ocean supports CentOS 7 x64 so that's no issue, and if you really needed some extra memory it'd probably cost you £3 more - not breaking the bank.

I suppose really it comes down to preference.

ian · May 2, 2018

inteldigital said:
Budget wise, it's less than £10 a month to run a bunch of VPS' at Digital Ocean, in 3 different locations. Also, a couple of things I must correct you on:

Dnsmadeeasy is much cheaper than this and offers significantly more redundancy.

Ben Thomas · May 2, 2018

ian said:
Dnsmadeeasy is much cheaper than this and offers significantly more redundancy.

That's cool, but like I said, 3rd party = minimum control.

Adam H · May 2, 2018

inteldigital said:
DNS Only allows you full control over DNS in WHM, I don't know why you would suggest it doesn't? That's its whole purpose. Digital Ocean supports CentOS 7 x64 so that's no issue, and if you really needed some extra memory it'd probably cost you £3 more - not breaking the bank.

No, It doesn't.

DNS entries can not be edited via WHM interface in a DNS Only install as a standalone machine which you've indicated in your initial post, DNS only machines can sync from parent servers or other DNS machines ( which the OP doesnt want to use, otherwise he wouldnt be asking the question), there is no options to edit, delete or manage DNS entries from within WHM with a DNS only licence. SSH yes, WHM interface....NO.

I have 4 DNS clusters, each cluster running between 4 and 7 DNS only installs in various parts of the world. So I am with you there are certain aspects and merits of DNS only machines, but for this situation you are wrong.

Ben Thomas · May 2, 2018

My apologies, Adam. It appears indeed I am wrong on being able to edit inside WHM, guess I got mixed up with SSH.

Adam H · May 2, 2018

inteldigital said:
My apologies, Adam. It appears indeed I am wrong on being able to edit inside WHM, guess I got mixed up with SSH.

No worries, also don't forget that although DNS only is free there is costs and risk assessments to be thought of, there is a matter of due care and responsibility.

Time = Money, DNS machines are probably the most forgotten about part of an infrastructure in small business setups and therefore often left vulnerable. So although it takes minutes to login to SSH and run Kernel updates etc, if your network includes client businesses/websites.......Kernelcare for a couple of quid per month, per machine is well worth it.......among other safe guards.

Ben Thomas · May 2, 2018

Adam H said:
No worries, also don't forget that although DNS only is free there is costs and risk assessments to be thought of, there is a matter of due care and responsibility.

Time = Money, DNS machines are probably the most forgotten about part of an infrastructure in small business setups and therefore often left vulnerable. So although it takes minutes to login to SSH and run Kernel updates etc, if your network includes client businesses/websites.......Kernelcare for a couple of quid per month, per machine is well worth it.......among other safe guards.

Interesting. I will look into KernelCare, seems worthwhile. Thanks.