In this tutorial, we’ll demonstrate how to change your DNS settings by updating the A record for your domain with the IP address provided to you by your hosting company.
In our case, WP Engine hosts our WordPress website, and GoDaddy serves as our domain registrar.
Check out our other tutorial on finding the DNS Settings in WP Engine if you use WP Engine to host your WordPress website.
There are numerous domain name providers to pick from, but we favor GoDaddy because of the following reasons:
Card view
All of your domains will be shown in the “Card view” as cards. When you first access the “My domains” interface, this is the default view that should be shown.
In the unlikely event that you accidentally landed in a different view, select the “Card view” by clicking on the 4 squares in the top right corner.
Next, a gear icon will appear in the card’s upper right corner. When you click on it, a drop-down menu with two options will appear. You ought to select “Manage DNS” from among them.
Adding an A record
The blue word “ADD” in the bottom right corner must be clicked if you need to add an A record. By doing this, a new row will be added to the list of DNS records, allowing you to select the type of record you want to add.
Three additional fields, Host, Points to, and TTL, will appear after you select “A.” Only the @ symbol should be used in the “Host” field, while the “Points to” field is where you should enter the IP address for your hosting server. The dashboard of your hosting provider is where you can locate the IP of your hosting server. Contact your hosting provider’s support staff if you have any questions.
The TTL is the abbreviation of Time-To-Live. The TTL in this instance is one hour, meaning that this A record is revalidated every hour. You should leave this at 1 Hour.
It might take some time for the changes to take effect, regardless of the TTL value. This is known as the “propagation time” and it can last up to 36 hours. It was given that name because it takes some time for registrars to update and propagate a DNS change throughout the network.
5 common DNS issues and possible fixes
Setting up the DNS zone file for your own domain name can be challenging. Let’s take a moment to examine possible solutions to get things back up and running after learning how to check DNS issues that you may experience.
Solution: To determine where your website is hosted, look at the A record.
There are numerous records in a DNS zone file, including A, CNAME, MX, and TXT records. Your website won’t load properly unless the IP address of your web host is entered correctly in the A record. The internet won’t be able to find your website without the A record.
The first thing you should do if your website is unavailable is check the A record. This will identify your web host provider and the person you should get in touch with for additional troubleshooting.
Solution: Determine who manages your nameservers, or direct nameservers to GoDaddy.
Nameservers tell your domain name where DNS is controlled. Your domain name will automatically be pointed to GoDaddy nameservers when you register it with them. This means that GoDaddy will host your DNS, and its DNS Manager must be used to make any changes. However, some web design firms will request that you switch to their nameservers so they can make DNS changes without disrupting you and make things easier for you.
If GoDaddy hosts your nameservers, continue with the additional troubleshooting steps there. If not, speak with the nameserver provider to learn how to check DNS. Refer to this help article if you want to re-point your domain name to GoDaddy’s nameservers.
Pro tip: GoDaddy’s nameservers usually include domaincontrol. com. If they’re set to anything else, you’ll probably need to conduct your DNS troubleshooting elsewhere. If necessary, nameservers can be directed back to GoDaddy, but a new zone file must be created.
Check that you are using the correct MX records for your email provider as a solution.
Check the MX records in your domain’s zone file first before you begin troubleshooting email. The MX records specify the proper email settings for your domain name. Your email may not function as intended if your MX records are not properly configured.
Compare MX records to your email provider’s recommended settings. If they’re different, make sure you update them as needed. If MX records are configured properly but you’re still experiencing problems, speak with your email provider to further troubleshoot.
Solution: Add a CNAME record for www.
Most people no longer type your domain name with a “www” after it. However, what happens if they click a link to your website? Links typically include www, and if your DNS is not set up to use www, this could result in an error for your visitors.
You need to create a CNAME record with the following settings in order to set up your DNS to use www:
Advice: It can take up to 48 hours for DNS changes to take effect worldwide. If your changes don’t immediately take effect, don’t stress. Check back later. If 48 hours pass with no update, contact support.
Solution: Lower the TTL time to speed up propagation.
It can take up to 48 hours for any DNS changes you make to take effect worldwide. Lowering the TTL (Time To Live) for records, however, may affect how quickly they propagate. Since TTL times are measured in seconds, one hour is equal to 3,600 seconds.
TTL values typically range from one hour to ten minutes (or 600 seconds), but GoDaddy’s DNS manager allows you to set a TTL as low as ten minutes. A TTL can be set when adding a new record to your DNS as well as changed for existing records.
Click the pencil icon to the right of the record you wish to modify in GoDaddy’s DNS Manager. Go to the TTL dropdown in the displayed window and choose Custom. Here you can enter your desired TTL in seconds.