How to do a Name Server Change?

Avathar77 · 23 Apr 2012 at 22:26

A friend of mine has a web site & a domain hosted in 1&1 hosting.
For some reason, their name servers are NOT from 1&1 - they are from zoneedit.com! :confused:

(that is how the previous "IT guy" have set it up).
Now he wants to change the name server to 1&1 hosting.
Can any one tell me how to do this please?

ubern00b · 23 Apr 2012 at 22:40

Nothing wrong with zoneedit. Its a very well known and largely used DNS host. Not sure why the :confused:

and "IT Guy" comments.

To answer your question, a quick google gave me this information.

Avathar77 · 23 Apr 2012 at 22:51

I was confused why he wants to change it to 1&1(why change if things are working fine now), "IT guy" was the wording he used

I found it funny!
I just finished talking to him over the phone, and it seems like my friend has officially terminated services from the "IT Guy"

Something to do with not attending to all the call outs for weeks! But upon termination "IT Guy" have asked to change the name servers of my friends domain as they are in one of his(IT guys) accounts in zone edit.com.
Not sure if I made it clear or not

Any way thanks for the link, I was just looking at it as well.
It says it may take 48 hours to change, so I guess his domain will be down for that time?(it is just the web site that is hosted in the domain, email is by Google apps)

ubern00b · 23 Apr 2012 at 23:02

That makes sense now, I thought you were implying said "IT guy" didn't know what he was doing due to using zoneedit. All cleared up!

If you setup DNS in 1&1 correctly then the domain will not be down for any period of time. It can take up to 48hours in order for DNS records to propagate all over the world. Simply changing the DNS servers your zone is hosted on is not enough, you need to setup any records that need setting up too to point to the correct IP's. Take mail for instance, even though its hosted with Google Apps if you do not setup the MX records in 1&1 then once the zone is transfered your mail simply will not work as any mail request to your domain wont know where to go.

Just copy the records that are currently setup in zoneedit (ask "IT Guy" to provide these if unsure but Google has simple to follow guides for setting up mail to work with Google Apps) and all should continue working without anyone noticing anything.

Avathar77 · 23 Apr 2012 at 23:56

Thank you for the reply!
I just passed the information to my friend - told him what to ask for(MX records).
Hopefully it should be easy!