Domain name system (DNS) is the system that is used to translate human-memorable domain names like smartweb.com.ng and hostnames like promo.smartweb.com.ng into the corresponding numeric Internet Protocol (IP) addresses as well as to identify and locate computer systems and resources on the Internet. When you use an alphanumeric address like "smartweb.com.ng" your computer needs to understand what numerical IP address it should contact to show up the content. Domain name server is a server responsible for keeping the file that contains information about the domain name(s) and corresponding IP addresses (zone file) as well as for providing the above-mentioned information during DNS queries. Domain name servers are a fundamental part of the Domain Name System. Nameserver is a server on the Internet specialized in handling queries regarding the location of the domain name’s various services. In easy words, name servers define your domain’s current DNS provider. All domains usually have at least two DNS servers which can be checked via Whois lookup tool. For example: we provide name servers for all domains registered with us (they are called Smartweb Free DNS) and their values are: dns1.doveserver.com dns2.doveserver.com When you make a request for anything related to the domain name, it gets sent to one of the name servers. In response, the DNS server sends back the IP address. This works for the Web Site, Mail Servers, and anything else based on the domain name. Free Email Forwarding and Dynamic DNS are some of the pros of using our default name servers. That's it! If you have any questions, feel free to contact our Support Team.
If your domain name is pointed to our Free DNS host records are managed in the corresponding section of the Manage DNS tab in your Smartweb Client area account. Our nameservers support the following types of host records: A Record AAAA Record CNAME Record MX Record TXT Record SRV Record NS Record CAA Record URL Redirect Record If you need to set up SPF, DKIM, or DMARC records, this can be done by setting up a TXT record with the corresponding values. In total, it is possible to create up to 150 records for a domain, including A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, SRV, TXT, NS, and URL records.
When you update the nameservers for a domain, it may take up to 24-48 hours for the change to take effect. This period is called DNS propagation. In other words, it is a period of time ISP (Internet service provider) nodes across the world take to update their caches with the new DNS information of your domain. Due to DNS caches of different levels, after the nameservers change, some of your visitors might still be directed to your old server for some time, whereas others can see the website from the new server shortly after the change.
For shared, if a domain name is registered along with the hosting account order, the DNS will be changed to our hosting ones automatically. If you wish to use Free DNS along with the hosting service, feel free to contact us. If you’ve purchased hosting for an existing domain which is using Smartweb Free DNS, or third-party DNS, you will need to change them to our hosting ones manually.
A PTR (pointer) record maps an IP address to the domain name. It’s often called a "reverse DNS entry" because it converts an IP address to a name. PTR records are mostly used as a security and anti-spam measure, to verify that a mail server address is allowed to send an email to a particular hostname. The reverse DNS entry checks if a server name is indeed associated with an IP address from where the connection was initiated. In order to set up a reverse DNS entry that will connect an IP address to your domain (e.g., 127.0.0.1 should be mapped to yourdomain.com), you will need to contact your IP address provider to create a PTR record for the IP address. Please keep in mind that PTR records are supported on our VPS and dedicated servers only.