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I am at a loss of what to do here. I bought a domain name some time ago, but just that. Tonight, I bought a subscription to DemonVPS to use as a web server.

Following their tutorial, I put the index.html file in the correct place, but it wouldn't show up. I asked around online, and apparently I need to update my DNS server. Godaddy says I need to do it through DemonVPS, but I'm not sure how to do it (I am very new to web development; the most I've done before is a local LAMP stack on my Linux machine).

How can I go about doing this?

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It does not sound like that was good advice. I do not have the details, so I will assume normal circumstances where you have one registrar and a separate host.

If your domain name is registered with GoDaddy (or anyone really), you can host it within their DNS for free (assuming GoDaddy) and I recommend that. I always like to see the registrar host the DNS because often the DNS control panel is more advanced than host control panels though this is not always the case. The other reason is network stability and scale.

You will need:

  • An A record for domain.tld that points to your sites IP address provided by your host.
  • A CNAME -or- an A record for WWW.
  • _The CNAME would be a www or www.domain.tld alias that points to domain.tld.
  • _The A record would be for www.domain.tld that is the same IP address as domain.tld.
  • Optionally_
  • An MX recrod that points to domain.tld for e-mail.

If you use your host for DNS, then things change only a little bit.

You will need:

  • Everything above (MX is still optional).
  • Changing the name server NS records in GoDaddys DNS to point to the host name servers often something like ns1.domain.tld (host). You will always need two name servers and your host will provide these specific domain names.

It would much simpler to add the records to your registrars DNS simply because you would not have to change the registrars NS records to point to the hosts DNS servers. As well, The SOA record likely already exists within the registrar's DNS.

I think that would be all you need. Please let me know if I left anything out or if any of this is unclear. I can always update the answer.

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  • I think i said this above, but just to be safe, I'm very new with all of this. so im sorry if the following is an obvious question. If i use godaddy to host the DNS will I still be able to use demonvps as the webserver?
    – DTSCode
    Jul 17, 2014 at 4:36
  • Absolutely! I do this. I run my own servers in my home office and use GoDaddy. In fact, when Network Solutions lost exclusive rigths to register .com, .net, and .org domains, I very quickly switched to GoDaddy for all of the domains I controlled (about 300) when I was a web host. Some servers where in the NOC (network operations center) and some (a few monitor and control servers along with a robot server) were in my SOHO (small office home office). GoDaddy is excellent! I just sounds like the tech rep that gave you the advice was dead wrong.
    – closetnoc
    Jul 17, 2014 at 4:49
  • yeah, shes a smart gal, but apparently hasnt dabbled too much in web development. ok, so now, if you wouldn't mind clarifying a few points? what is an A record and what is domain.tld? A cname is for the mail client right?
    – DTSCode
    Jul 17, 2014 at 5:01
  • also, forgot to ask, what would i do to make demonvps the webserver?
    – DTSCode
    Jul 17, 2014 at 5:02
  • DNS consists of various record types. Each has a purpose. The A record ties a domain name to an IP address. A CNAME is an alias that sometimes can be used in place of a record. CNAME records are used to tie sub-domains such as www to the domain name. When I used domain.tld it was just and example where domain = domain name and tld = top level domain such as .com, .net, .org, and so forth. So with webmasters.stackexchange.com, webmasters is a sub-domain, stackexchange is the domain name, and .com is the top level domain. You will need to call demonvps to help on their end.
    – closetnoc
    Jul 17, 2014 at 5:18

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