We own domain.com which currently resides at NetSol & are planning to move it to our preferred Registrar.
Once the domain is transferred though, will ns1.domain.com and ns2.domain.com automatically be set up at the new Registrar?
My concern (and I'm after reassurance more than anything!) is whether there may be any downtime caused by the child nameservers not being set up at the new Registrar following the transfer. It's the most important domain we've got and it's vital it all goes as well as possible.
Advice & experience most welcomed.
R.
What you'll probably get at your preferred host (registrar) is an IP address. The new host can set their NS up in advance to point the domain name to the new address, so that once you change, you minimize any downtime. The Domain Name System is a hierarchy of nameservers, so when you change, you are actually telling the name servers further up in the hierarchy that they should use the settings at your new host in stead of those at your old host. Both can have settings on their servers, but the up-level servers will only read the location-tables on one set, they only need to be told which set is valid.
There will be downtime though, you can't escape that, only minimize it. Changes in NS'es has to "propagate" throughout the whole Domain Name System (changes at one place has to be mirrored at all the other places), and that can take some time. Perhaps hours, perhaps days, it all depends on so much.
To further minimize, you can ask the host (registrar) you are moving from to set TTL (Time To Live) down on your DNS records. This is the preferred way of notifying the DNS system that a change is about to come (it means to tell the servers of this world that they should not cache your old locations for as long as they do now)
I would recommend building or transferring the site to the new location in advance of the changes. It should minimize problems. When it's done, permanent redirect all incoming traffic on the old site to the new site using the new IP in stead of the domain name (see htaccess and 301 redirect-threads for this), and then make the DNS-changes.
/claus
We actually host ourselves and have a fixed IP address for each of the nameservers. When we originally registered domain.com at NetSol, we set up child servers (ns1.domain.com & ns2.domain.com) and every other domain we host uses these nameservers.
My concern is whether upon transfer, these child servers will be automatically transferred/created at the new Registrar. If they aren't, I'd guess that downtime would occur until they'd been added and the changes resolved - other domains pointing to ns1.domain.com would lookup domain.com at the new Registrar, be unable to find the listed nameservers and simply not resolve.
R.
It seems to me, that if your'e able to point other domains to ns1+2 then your'e also able to point your primary domain ther - i really don't understand the role of the registrar in all this.
One thing though; If nsX.domain.com and www.domain.com is actually the same domain (i guess they are) it is good practice to have the nameservers for www.domain.com located at another place, say, nsX.other-domain.com.
/claus
The problem is that every domain I host is dependent upon the two child servers (ns1.domain.com & ns2.domain.com) and if during the transfer process from the current to the new Registrar, these child nameservers aren't carried to the new Registrar, all other domains that rely on these child servers will fail to resolve.
R.
If that's the case, i think i can offer some comfort. Let's say you have this setup:
ns1.domain.com 111.111.111.111
ns1.domain.com 111.111.111.112
www.domain.com 111.111.111.113
Changes for your "www" account does not have to influence the settings for the subdomains. You might as well have this setup:
ns1.domain.com 111.111.111.111
ns1.domain.com 111.222.222.222
www.domain.com 222.333.333.333
- and even:
domain.com 222.444.444.444 (as www is actually a subdomain of domain.com)
It is possible to have separate IP's for separate subdomains. You don't automatically move a subdomain because you move a domain.
Hope this helps. I would suggest, however, to check out the term "DNS Service" in your favorite Search Engine. This might save you from some registrar expenses and minimize configuration hassle.
/claus
The registrar only acts as an agent to the registry, so your settings stay with the registry no matter what registrar you use.
Please note: Some registrars don't make it as easy to interact with the registry to do Name Server type stuff. But if your ns1 and ns2 are already setup no big deal. Just make sure your new registrar has an interface to modify your existing settings at the registry.
I'll set the wheels in motion when I get back to work in the morning!
Thanks again.
R.
The thing about DNS Services and your favorite SE: That was not ment to be rude or anything, it was intended as a genuine tip. Lisa mentioned it like this:
>> Just make sure your new registrar has an interface to modify your existing settings at the registry.
DNS Services are independent service providers that makes the task of configuring DNS entries easy. Essentially, the service they supply is such an interface. You don't need a registrar to do the configuration by yourself when using one of these services and you don't have to pay the registrar money for setting up or changing your DNS records. As you have hundreds of domains and even nameservers of your own, i just thought this kind of service would be able to save you some cash in the long run.
Nevermind, i'm glad your original problem is solved, and thanks to Lisa for translating the IP-stuff :)
/claus
