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A domain on its own does nothing until it's told where your website and email live. There are two ways to do that: change the domain's nameservers, or change its DNS records. Which one you need depends on where the domain is registered and who looks after its DNS.
Nameservers or DNS records?
Nameservers decide who holds the domain's DNS: us, your old host, Cloudflare, or someone else. DNS records are the entries inside it that say where the website (A records) and the email (MX records) are.
- Your domain is registered with us: it uses our nameservers unless someone has changed them. You can check on the domain's Nameservers page in your account, where Use default nameservers puts ours back. Then add or check the DNS records. See Managing your DNS records.
- Your domain is registered elsewhere and you want us to look after everything: change its nameservers to ours (below), or transfer it to us so it's all in one place.
- Your domain is registered elsewhere and you want to keep its DNS there (for example, it's on Cloudflare): leave the nameservers alone and change the records at that provider.
Our nameservers
At the company where your domain is registered, find the nameserver settings (often under “DNS” or “Nameservers”), choose custom nameservers, and enter:
ns1.mywebsitehost.netns2.mywebsitehost.netns3.mywebsitehost.netns4.mywebsitehost.net
Before you switch, make a note of the domain's current DNS records, especially the MX and TXT records for email. Switching nameservers replaces the whole set, so anything you don't recreate with us stops working.
Pointing your website
Your hosting welcome email gives your server's IP address. Your domain needs two A records pointing at it:
| Host name | Type | Points to |
|---|---|---|
@ (the domain on its own) | A | Your server's IP address |
www | A | Your server's IP address |
Once both resolve, your free SSL certificate is issued automatically, usually within the hour, and the padlock appears.
Pointing your email
If your email is on our Professional Email service, your domain needs these MX records, all with priority 10:
mx001.cloudus.rs.oxcs.netmx002.cloudus.rs.oxcs.netmx003.cloudus.rs.oxcs.netmx004.cloudus.rs.oxcs.net
Remove any MX records left over from a previous email provider, or some of your mail will keep going there. Add an SPF record as well, so your messages don't land in spam: SPF, DKIM and DMARC explained has the exact line.
How long it takes
New records usually work within an hour. A nameserver change, or a change to a record that had a long “time to live”, can take up to 24 to 48 hours to reach everyone, because internet providers keep the old answer until it expires. During that time some people may see the old website or send email to the old place. That's normal, and it sorts itself out.
To see what the world currently sees, look your domain up on a free checker such as dnschecker.org.