URL FORWARDING RECORDS

URL Forwarding records are used to redirect domains to another URL. A common purpose is to point a domain to a website or page hosted elsewhere which usually has a longer URL such as http://www.myispsite.com/~myname.html. Keep in mind that the DATA part of the forwarding record must be a complete URL like http://www.domain.ca and include the “http://” part… it cannot be just a domain name like www.domain.ca. Also, a URL Forwarded domain cannot be used with any other function such as FTP (uploads), SMTP (mail) etc.

HOST (A) RECORDS

The data section of a host record takes an IP address.

MAIL (MX) RECORDS

Above is an example of how to setup your DNS if you are running your own mail server. Please note that it takes two records to define your mail server. A host record for the actual address of the server, and an MX record that points to it. The hostname for the MX record should be the root of your domain, not mail.yourdomain.com. This is our number one support issue; we’d prevent the error but unfortunately it is a valid configuration, and a small percentage of our customers use it as such.

ALIAS (CNAME) RECORDS

Alias records are used similarly to host records, but take a fully qualified domain name instead of an IP address. CNAME records get a bad rap for being slower than host records, but that is usually not the case. With some things its just best to have a CNAME record. The example above is a typical use for a CNAME record, to alias the root of a domain for the web server.