Best registrar for DNS management

macmesser · Jun 5, 2013

Working on my website and things are fluid. I will be switching mail servers and shuffling subdomains. My domain is coming up for renewal and I am looking for a company that will manage my DNS records through whatever changes we make. I don't know anything about DNS servers or records and don't host with my present registrar anymore (they are a Network Solutions affiliate). I'm pretty sure that the usual arrangement is for the DNS records to reside on the hosting company's DNS servers, so they are the ones who usually manage them. My present registrar seemed not to want to do this for me and when we went to a new hosting company simply pointed to their DNS servers. I want a registrar that will do any DNS records management tasks we might require but not necessarily on my hosting company's servers. I think it must certainly be possible for the DNS records associated with a domain to reside on any DNS server so what I want should be doable. Are there companies out there who will do this for me and how do I find the best one?

Googling "managed DNS server" brings up a lot of names and a bewildering array of service descriptions. LifeHacker's Five Best DNS Registrar's was one hit and mentioned, in order of quality:Namecheap, Name.com, Hover, Gandi, Dreamhost. I do have a test blog at Bluehost which I could possibly put on a subdomain and then use them for DNS and email but I don't want to be a PITA customer, as I may have become with my current registrar.

Any insights/recommendations appreciated. I just don't have the time to start versing myself in this stuff right now, even though it's critical.

r0k · Jun 5, 2013

macmesser said:
Working on my website and things are fluid. I will be switching mail servers and shuffling subdomains. My domain is coming up for renewal and I am looking for a company that will manage my DNS records through whatever changes we make. I don't know anything about DNS servers or records and don't host with my present registrar anymore (they are a Network Solutions affiliate). I'm pretty sure that the usual arrangement is for the DNS records to reside on the hosting company's DNS servers, so they are the ones who usually manage them. My present registrar seemed not to want to do this for me and when we went to a new hosting company simply pointed to their DNS servers. I want a registrar that will do any DNS records management tasks we might require but not necessarily on my hosting company's servers. I think it must certainly be possible for the DNS records associated with a domain to reside on any DNS server so what I want should be doable. Are there companies out there who will do this for me and how do I find the best one?

Googling "managed DNS server" brings up a lot of names and a bewildering array of service descriptions. LifeHacker's Five Best DNS Registrar's was one hit and mentioned, in order of quality:Namecheap, Name.com, Hover, Gandi, Dreamhost. I do have a test blog at Bluehost which I could possibly put on a subdomain and then use them for DNS and email but I don't want to be a PITA customer, as I may have become with my current registrar.

Any insights/recommendations appreciated. I just don't have the time to start versing myself in this stuff right now, even though it's critical.

I use godaddy. They are not the cheapest. They are not the best. They spam me constantly but not as much as I get spammed by register.com which I also use. I also use mydomain.com. I do NOT recommend them. Lastly I use dyndns. The problem with dyndns is they have gotten expensive. I suggest you look into the options lifehacker recommends and play around with their demonstration user interfaces. Do they allow you to add any a record or cname record you want? Do they try to charge for basic stuff like url forwarding or url forwarding with stealth? Are they trying to sell you something you don't really need like full hosting, fractional/full/shared server when all you are asking for is DNS? Lastly I suggest you separate hosting from DNS. If you get into a fight with a hosting company, all it should take is a simple a record or cname update to put them in your rear view mirror. The same is true for DNS to a slightly lesser extent. If you are sick of your registrar, all you should have to do is get a transfer authorization and point the new registrar to the host you presently use before the authorization goes through. Under no circumstances should a registrar point your domain to their lame parking page without your permission. There is a down side to separating hosting from dns. Often times dns comes free with hosting. This can be a blessing... or a curse.

macmesser · Jun 5, 2013

r0k said:
I use godaddy. They are not the cheapest. They are not the best. They spam me constantly but not as much as I get spammed by register.com which I also use. I also use mydomain.com. I do NOT recommend them. Lastly I use dyndns. The problem with dyndns is they have gotten expensive. I suggest you look into the options lifehacker recommends and play around with their demonstration user interfaces. Do they allow you to add any a record or cname record you want? Do they try to charge for basic stuff like url forwarding or url forwarding with stealth? Are they trying to sell you something you don't really need like full hosting, fractional/full/shared server when all you are asking for is DNS? Lastly I suggest you separate hosting from DNS. If you get into a fight with a hosting company, all it should take is a simple a record or cname update to put them in your rear view mirror. The same is true for DNS to a slightly lesser extent. If you are sick of your registrar, all you should have to do is get a transfer authorization and point the new registrar to the host you presently use before the authorization goes through. Under no circumstances should a registrar point your domain to their lame parking page without your permission. There is a down side to separating hosting from dns. Often times dns comes free with hosting. This can be a blessing... or a curse.

Thanks for comments! Not depending on a hosting company was pretty much why I wanted to do this. I now see I was not being paranoid, but prudent. I will look for a company that does DNS stuff only. Would companies like the ones you mentioned or in the Lifehacker top five actually perform whatever updates were necessary (greatly preferred, since I don't know this stuff) or would I need to do the updates myself (in which case there's yet another thing to get up to speed in).

r0k · Jun 5, 2013

macmesser said:
Thanks for comments! Not depending on a hosting company was pretty much why I wanted to do this. I now see I was not being paranoid, but prudent. I will look for a company that does DNS stuff only. Would companies like the ones you mentioned or in the Lifehacker top five actually perform whatever updates were necessary (greatly preferred, since I don't know this stuff) or would I need to do the updates myself (in which case there's yet another thing to get up to speed in).

The advantage of using a host with DNS is you don't have to think about this stuff. I would read up on DNS settings before you decide to go separate DNS/host. One example, not a very good value but dirt simple is this: create your site on wordpress and pay them $18 a year for their DNS. Dirt simple but very inflexible. Another example: Pick a DNS registrar who throws in free hosting or vice versa. Spend some time getting up to speed on the settings and add the second provider when you figure out how to manage your own settings (which involves a learning curve).

CompuMan · Jul 12, 2013

macmesser said:
Working on my website and things are fluid. I will be switching mail servers and shuffling subdomains. My domain is coming up for renewal and I am looking for a company that will manage my DNS records through whatever changes we make. I don't know anything about DNS servers or records and don't host with my present registrar anymore (they are a Network Solutions affiliate). I'm pretty sure that the usual arrangement is for the DNS records to reside on the hosting company's DNS servers, so they are the ones who usually manage them. My present registrar seemed not to want to do this for me and when we went to a new hosting company simply pointed to their DNS servers. I want a registrar that will do any DNS records management tasks we might require but not necessarily on my hosting company's servers. I think it must certainly be possible for the DNS records associated with a domain to reside on any DNS server so what I want should be doable. Are there companies out there who will do this for me and how do I find the best one?

Googling "managed DNS server" brings up a lot of names and a bewildering array of service descriptions. LifeHacker's Five Best DNS Registrar's was one hit and mentioned, in order of quality:Namecheap, Name.com, Hover, Gandi, Dreamhost. I do have a test blog at Bluehost which I could possibly put on a subdomain and then use them for DNS and email but I don't want to be a PITA customer, as I may have become with my current registrar.

Any insights/recommendations appreciated. I just don't have the time to start versing myself in this stuff right now, even though it's critical.

If you're look for managed DNS hosting only, I would highly recommend DNS Made Easy. That's what they specialize in and their reputation and prices are the best in the business.

macmesser · Jul 12, 2013

CompuMan said:
If you're look for managed DNS hosting only, I would highly recommend DNS Made Easy. That's what they specialize in and their reputation and prices are the best in the business.

Thanks. Will check them out.

overanalyzer · Jul 12, 2013

CompuMan said:
If you're look for managed DNS hosting only, I would highly recommend DNS Made Easy. That's what they specialize in and their reputation and prices are the best in the business.

I'd second this recommendation. We use Hover as the registrar and DNS Made Easy for DNS services for all of our clients. Nothing but positive experiences to report with both.

kurzz · Jul 13, 2013

overanalyzer said:
I'd second this recommendation. We use Hover as the registrar and DNS Made Easy for DNS services for all of our clients. Nothing but positive experiences to report with both.

Thumbs up for Hover.com. They are easily the cleanest, and most straightforward registrar out there for domain..no ads, spam, or other crap. They also are not the cheapest but their service is top notch.

macmesser · Jul 13, 2013

kurzz said:
Thumbs up for Hover.com. They are easily the cleanest, and most straightforward registrar out there for domain..no ads, spam, or other crap. They also are not the cheapest but their service is top notch.

Thanks. Will keep Hover in mind.

----------

kurzz said:
Thumbs up for Hover.com. They are easily the cleanest, and most straightforward registrar out there for domain..no ads, spam, or other crap. They also are not the cheapest but their service is top notch.

overanalyzer said:
I'd second this recommendation. We use Hover as the registrar and DNS Made Easy for DNS services for all of our clients. Nothing but positive experiences to report with both.

Thanks.

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Best registrar for DNS management

macmesser

macrumors 6502a

r0k

macrumors 68040

macmesser

macrumors 6502a

r0k

macrumors 68040

CompuMan

macrumors newbie

macmesser

macrumors 6502a

overanalyzer

macrumors 6502a

kurzz

macrumors 6502

macmesser

macrumors 6502a

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