DNS Help - Point Web Requests to Web Host without affecting Existing Email Settings

Question

I have registered a domain name (let's call it example.com.au) through GoDaddy and have an active email account using the gmail servers ([email protected]). The gmail setup process automatically set my DNS records so that mail service is handled by their servers and it works well.

I now have a website on ecoweb hosting that I want to go live. I want browser requests for:

example.com.au
www.example.com.au

to point to my page on the ecowebhosting web server.

Currently this is accessible through:

http://217.199.187.200/example.com.au/

I fear if I change nameserver configuration at GoDaddy to:

ns1.example.co.uk
ns2.example.co.uk

as instructed on ecowebhosting site, it will break gmail functionality because the mail settings given by ecowebhost will be different.

Can you advise or point me to a guide on how I can do this properly without affecting mail?

Answer 1

It's good that you're being very cautious.

Keep your Name Server configuration to where it's at. You should just create an A-Record and point it to your IP address (217.199.187.200).

The mail configuration is a different type of record called "MX". You don't want to change those in this case.

So, in your GoDaddy DNS zones - add an A-Record and point it to your IP. That way anyone that wants to visit your site can go to the place where you're hosting it. As for "WWW" - you can create another type of record called a CNAME record. It stands for Canonical Name. That way if someone types in "www.example.com.au" it will also go to your webhost that's hosting your website.

Hope this helps,

Answer 2

Since you're using GMail for email, only by making changes to the MX DNS records will email delivery be impacted. So leave the MX records "as is".

You shouldn't have to change your name servers. Just register the necessary A records for your website and you'll be fine.

Answer 3

You can choose not transfer your DNS to your webhost. To keep your current email configuration, you only need to point example.com to your ecowebhosting web server's IP address and set up www.example.com as a CNAME to example.com

Hope this helps.