A domain allows people to reach your server without using the server's IP address. There are two primary ways of utilizing your domain with your VPS, and we will cover them here. Please note, we are assuming you purchased the domain with us; if you did not, please contact your domain registrar for assistance.
Method #1 - A Record
The easiest way to point a domain to your VPS is with an A record. Navigate to Services --> My Services, and select your VPS which you want to use with the domain. Copy the IP address of your service from this page. Then, navigate to Domains --> My Domains and select the domain you want to use. Here, on the left sidebar, you can go to "DNS Management" and change the A record "Address" to your server's IP address. Click save changes. Finally, go to "Nameservers" on the left sidebar and ensure they are the nameservers for the "DNS Management" option, which are:
- dns1.name-services.com
- dns2.name-services.com
- dns3.name-services.com
- dns4.name-services.com
- dns5.name-services.com
Please remember, if you are using our shared webhosting, this would be different.
If you did not select the "DNS Management" for external DNS management when registering the domain with us, you can use some other DNS service, such as Cloudflare. In that case, follow instructions on their website, and then set an A record on that third party DNS service website.
Video Tutorial:
Method #2 - Self hosted DNS/Nameservers
Alternatively, you can set up internal DNS on the VPS. There are multiple ways of doing this, and you can usually use a control panel such as cPanel to make things easier. After setting up your DNS service, to register your own private nameservers, go to Domains --> My Domains and select the domain you want to use. Here, on the left sidebar, you can go to "Private Nameservers" and you usually would want to add "ns1" and "ns2" on the "Nameserver" field and use an appropriate IP address per your DNS configuration, then click "Save Changes."
This is for advanced users. Assuming you are not using a panel, you would essentially install LAMP stack and then set up DNS using BIND.
