Setting DNS when registrar and host is different

Question

Just to confirm that my assumptions are correct (if not, please let me know where I'm doing wrong):

• My domain refers to jkwsp.com
• The registrar where I have registered my domain is hioxindia.com
• My domain is hosted at ixwebhosting.com

I have access to DNS settings in the registrar as well as in the hosting.

Setting 1.- At Registrar DNS Setting: Name server is already entered by registrar.

• Q1.1. If I do A record to the IP given to me by the host, will it work?
• Q1.2. For subdomain should I make Cname record or a new A record point to the IP given to me for subdomain by my host?
• Q1.3. To access my site as http://jkwsp.com and http://www.jkwsp.com do I have to make the entry as: *.jkwsp.com to IP OR jkwsp.com to IP and www.jkwsp.com as Cname?

Setting2.- At Host:

• Q2.1 Point the NameServers given by host in Registrar NS record and remove all A record mentioned under A record at the Registrar?
• Q2.2 A record and subdomain entry is already created by Host. Since NameServer is pointed to Host now setting at host will take effect and A record will point to my site? And any future change needs to be done At Host Only?

In Both Settings which one should be preferred?

Answer 1

1. It should. Try it and see.
2. For the subdomain, it depends on how your host sets things up. I think it's easiest to have the host also host DNS; that way they can set some of these things up automatically. For my host, it's a separate A record, though as long as the IP addresses stay the same, CNAME should also work.
3. I would have the bare domain served from an A record and use a CNAME for www.

Answer 2

Q1.3: Use an A record for your www. It's slightly more efficient as your nameserver does not get hit twice. If www is a CNAME, the browser/web client will look for www.jkwsp.com and then will have to ask again for the IP address of jkwsp.com.