hosting web site and email at different places

If I register a domain at one company, then decide to have email hosted by a
second company, and then decide to have my web site hosted at a third
company, how does the DNS records get updated?

I've just gone through half of the above scenerio. I registered a domain at
godaddy. Then I signed up for email only hosting on 1and1. 1and1 gave me a
set of 1and1 dns server addresses to assign to my domain, so I did that at
godaddy. At that time I wondered if 1and1 would take over my web site since
I'm using their dns server. Fortunately, my email works and I can still
reach my web site (a freebie site from godaddy.)

Does that mean 1and1's dns server actually copied the IP from my old A
record? That's what I hoped would happen, but there's no mention of this on
1and1's online help, so I wasn't sure. Why didn't 1and1 give me their mail
server's IP address, and let me update the MX record of my domain to point
to that?

What if I now decide to host my web space at some hosting company elsewhere.
Do I get an IP address from this hosting company and ask 1and1 to put that
in my dns A record? Or, would the hosting company ask me to assign a new set
of DNS servers addresses to my domain?

Re: hosting web site and email at different places

peter wrote:

> If I register a domain at one company, then decide to have email hosted by a
> second company, and then decide to have my web site hosted at a third
> company, how does the DNS records get updated?
>
The record gets updated by you through the the goddady interface, or by
the party you make authoritative.

> I've just gone through half of the above scenerio. I registered a domain at
> godaddy. Then I signed up for email only hosting on 1and1. 1and1 gave me a
> set of 1and1 dns server addresses to assign to my domain, so I did that at
> godaddy. At that time I wondered if 1and1 would take over my web site since
> I'm using their dns server. Fortunately, my email works and I can still
> reach my web site (a freebie site from godaddy.)
>
Unless 1and1 added the IP referenced for your site with goddady, your
site will not be reachable once your cache copy of DNS records expires.

> Does that mean 1and1's dns server actually copied the IP from my old A
> record? That's what I hoped would happen, but there's no mention of this on
> 1and1's online help, so I wasn't sure. Why didn't 1and1 give me their mail
> server's IP address, and let me update the MX record of my domain to point
> to that?
>
My guess they gave you an option, either make their name servers
authoritative or make their mail server reflected as the MX record.

> What if I now decide to host my web space at some hosting company elsewhere.
> Do I get an IP address from this hosting company and ask 1and1 to put that
> in my dns A record? Or, would the hosting company ask me to assign a new set
> of DNS servers addresses to my domain?
>
You can either request that 1and1 add the record to point to the IP
provided by your webhost, or transfer the authority to the web host and
make sure they reflect the 1and1 mail servers as the MX. You should
also coordinate this type of change with 1and1 as you never know whether
it is enough for the mail server to be reflected in the MX record.
>

The registration of a domain name is one service.
The hosting of a web site is another service which often includes email
service.
The hosting of email services is another service.
You would need to pick whether the web host provider will manage your
DNS or whether your email provider will manage your DNS or you would
manage your DNS through the interface provided by the Domain's Registrar.



AK

Re: hosting web site and email at different places

[response added at bottom]

"AK" wrote in message
news:g_mdnQZuSOtmUqXeRVn-2w@comcast.com...
> peter wrote:
>
>> If I register a domain at one company, then decide to have email hosted
>> by a second company, and then decide to have my web site hosted at a
>> third company, how does the DNS records get updated?
>>
> The record gets updated by you through the the goddady interface, or by
> the party you make authoritative.
>
>> I've just gone through half of the above scenerio. I registered a domain
>> at godaddy. Then I signed up for email only hosting on 1and1. 1and1 gave
>> me a set of 1and1 dns server addresses to assign to my domain, so I did
>> that at godaddy. At that time I wondered if 1and1 would take over my web
>> site since I'm using their dns server. Fortunately, my email works and I
>> can still reach my web site (a freebie site from godaddy.)
>>
> Unless 1and1 added the IP referenced for your site with goddady, your site
> will not be reachable once your cache copy of DNS records expires.
>
>> Does that mean 1and1's dns server actually copied the IP from my old A
>> record? That's what I hoped would happen, but there's no mention of this
>> on 1and1's online help, so I wasn't sure. Why didn't 1and1 give me their
>> mail server's IP address, and let me update the MX record of my domain to
>> point to that?
>>
> My guess they gave you an option, either make their name servers
> authoritative or make their mail server reflected as the MX record.
>
>> What if I now decide to host my web space at some hosting company
>> elsewhere. Do I get an IP address from this hosting company and ask 1and1
>> to put that in my dns A record? Or, would the hosting company ask me to
>> assign a new set of DNS servers addresses to my domain?
> You can either request that 1and1 add the record to point to the IP
> provided by your webhost, or transfer the authority to the web host and
> make sure they reflect the 1and1 mail servers as the MX. You should also
> coordinate this type of change with 1and1 as you never know whether it is
> enough for the mail server to be reflected in the MX record.
>>
>
> The registration of a domain name is one service.
> The hosting of a web site is another service which often includes email
> service.
> The hosting of email services is another service.
> You would need to pick whether the web host provider will manage your DNS
> or whether your email provider will manage your DNS or you would manage
> your DNS through the interface provided by the Domain's Registrar.
>
> AK

That clears up most of my questions except one.
I asked 1and1 the same question. They said merely pointing my domain's MX
record to their email server is not enough if I want them to host my email.
They said they would remove service of email accounts that does not use
their DNS. I wonder why.

Re: hosting web site and email at different places

peter wrote:

> [response added at bottom]
>
> "AK" wrote in message
> news:g_mdnQZuSOtmUqXeRVn-2w@comcast.com...
>
>>peter wrote:
>>
>>
>>>If I register a domain at one company, then decide to have email hosted
>>>by a second company, and then decide to have my web site hosted at a
>>>third company, how does the DNS records get updated?
>>>
>>
>>The record gets updated by you through the the goddady interface, or by
>>the party you make authoritative.
>>
>>
>>>I've just gone through half of the above scenerio. I registered a domain
>>>at godaddy. Then I signed up for email only hosting on 1and1. 1and1 gave
>>>me a set of 1and1 dns server addresses to assign to my domain, so I did
>>>that at godaddy. At that time I wondered if 1and1 would take over my web
>>>site since I'm using their dns server. Fortunately, my email works and I
>>>can still reach my web site (a freebie site from godaddy.)
>>>
>>
>>Unless 1and1 added the IP referenced for your site with goddady, your site
>>will not be reachable once your cache copy of DNS records expires.
>>
>>
>>>Does that mean 1and1's dns server actually copied the IP from my old A
>>>record? That's what I hoped would happen, but there's no mention of this
>>>on 1and1's online help, so I wasn't sure. Why didn't 1and1 give me their
>>>mail server's IP address, and let me update the MX record of my domain to
>>>point to that?
>>>
>>
>>My guess they gave you an option, either make their name servers
>>authoritative or make their mail server reflected as the MX record.
>>
>>
>>>What if I now decide to host my web space at some hosting company
>>>elsewhere. Do I get an IP address from this hosting company and ask 1and1
>>>to put that in my dns A record? Or, would the hosting company ask me to
>>>assign a new set of DNS servers addresses to my domain?
>>
>>You can either request that 1and1 add the record to point to the IP
>>provided by your webhost, or transfer the authority to the web host and
>>make sure they reflect the 1and1 mail servers as the MX. You should also
>>coordinate this type of change with 1and1 as you never know whether it is
>>enough for the mail server to be reflected in the MX record.
>>
>>The registration of a domain name is one service.
>>The hosting of a web site is another service which often includes email
>>service.
>>The hosting of email services is another service.
>>You would need to pick whether the web host provider will manage your DNS
>>or whether your email provider will manage your DNS or you would manage
>>your DNS through the interface provided by the Domain's Registrar.
>>
>>AK
>
>
> That clears up most of my questions except one.
> I asked 1and1 the same question. They said merely pointing my domain's MX
> record to their email server is not enough if I want them to host my email.
> They said they would remove service of email accounts that does not use
> their DNS. I wonder why.
>
>
This might be their policy for providing email services. This might be
part of their provisioning mechanism.

You can always choose to go with someone else.

AK