What is DNS?

DNS, which stands for domain name system, controls your domain name's website and email settings. When visitors go to your domain name, its DNS settings control which company's server it reaches out to.

For example, if you use GoDaddy's DNS settings, visitors will reach GoDaddy's servers when using your domain name. If you change those settings to use another company's servers, visitors will reach them instead when visiting your domain.

DNS can be confusing. It's made up of many different elements that control different aspects of your domain name. Here's a quick explanation of each one:

DNS Element	Description
Nameserver	Nameservers "point" your domain name to the company that controls its DNS settings. Usually, this will be the company where you registered the domain name. However, if your website is hosted by another company, sometimes they will provide nameservers you need to point to instead.
Zone File	Zone Files are simply the files that store all of your domain's DNS settings. Your domain name's Zone File is stored on the company's nameserver.
A Record	A Records point your domain name to an individual server using an IP address. An example IP address is 123.4.67.5. Every domain name has a primary A Record called "@," which controls what your domain name does when some visits it directly. You can also use A Records to point subdomains (for example subdomain.coolexample.com) to a server's IP address.
CNAME	CNAMEs point your subdomains to another server using a server name, like server1.godaddy.com. Most domain names have many CNAMEs. Unlike A Records, CNAMEs cannot use IP addresses.
MX Records	MX Records point your domain name's email to its email provider.

*To look up your DNS, check to see if you're pointing to the correct IP address, or want to see who your domian host provider is, you can use sites like whatsmydns.net or who.is.

When updating DNS, the main record you'll need to worry about is the A record. Here is how you manage your A record using the most common DNS hosts:

GoDaddy: Add/Edit/Delete

Network Solutions: Add/Edit/Delete (under the IP Address (A record) tab)

Name.com: Add

What is DNS propagation?

Each time you update DNS records in your domain's zone file, the rest of the Internet must catch up to the changes. This period of catching up is known as propagation. Usually DNS changes will propagate within a few hours, but it can take up to 48 hours for everything to propagate across the Internet. If it's been more than 48 hours and your changes aren't reflecting correctly, there may be a different cause of the issue, such as incorrect DNS settings.