Jas0n - 4:56 pm on Nov 1, 2002 (gmt 0)

IMO,

These days its not a bad idea to separate your DNS hosting from your actual web hosting. It gives you much more flexibility in managing your site. If your web host goes down or you have a dispute you can then use your trusty DNS management panel (at your 3rd party DNS host) to point to a different IP and within a few minutes your URL is resolving to a site you have setup at a different host.

I've found that the newer registrars now offer quite a few value added DNS management features. I now avoid registering my domains through my host. As an example, I currently use Discountdomainregistry.com (I'm not affiliated in any way, yadda yadda) and for my $15 domain registration fee I get complete control of all my "A Name", MX, and other records, can point a domain name/URL at a different URL (ie. not using IP address or A Name records) and can also setup e-mail forwarding through them.

There are also "industrial strength" DNS Hosts that are extremely reliable, propagate changes worldwide in minutes, and have alot of other value added features like automatic monitoring, switching to backups on fail, etc..(one I used at a previous job was UltraDNS.com -- once again, I'm not affiliated in any way just giving an example).

Jas0n