DNS is the phone book of the internet: it turns yourdomain.mk into a server address. You do not need to be technical, but these five records are worth knowing — one day someone will ask you for them.
The five records you meet
- A record — ties the domain to the server's IP address. Where the site lives. When you change hosts, this is the one that changes.
- CNAME — a nickname: it points to another name, not an IP. Classic: www → the main domain.
- MX — where email goes. If the site is with us and mail is on Google Workspace — MX points to Google, the A record to us. That is why site and mail can live in two places.
- TXT — text confirmations: SPF (who may send from your domain), DKIM, and ownership verifications (Google, Facebook)
- NS — which server holds your records at all. This changes when a whole zone moves.
Where to change them
At your registrar, or at the host if it holds the names: cPanel → Zone Editor. If you do not know where they are — ask us, it takes a second to check.
Why you wait (TTL and propagation)
A change is not instant: servers worldwide remember the old value for as long as the TTL says (e.g. 4 hours). That is why we say up to 24 hours. Trick: lower the TTL to 300 seconds the day before a planned change — then the move is nearly instant.
The most common mistakes
- Changing the A record with a proxy still on (e.g. Cloudflare) — the domain still points to the old place
- A forgotten MX during migration — the site works, the email vanishes. This one hurts most.
- Two SPF records — not allowed; they must be merged
- www with no CNAME — the site works without www and errors with it
Before every migration
Write down all current records (or screenshot the Zone Editor). Five minutes that save a day of panic.
For our clients we run the migration — planning TTL and checking that mail does not drop for a minute.