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DNS Records with Host or Registrar

I have been using my hosting company for years and now it is time to change.

The problem is that I also used the hosting company's DNS services to set my DNS for each domain. Which has become an issue when you want to test moving sites to a different host that have hosted exchange services for email as the Names ervers point to the host and MX is dealt with there. The moment I point the name servers to the new host it breaks email connectivity unless I set up MX on the new host, With hosted Exchange this requires validation so name server entries need to be moved first.

I have looked at my registrar (Name.com) and they offer DNS as well, so in theory I could set my new www site there and leave hosted exchange MX entries completely undisturbed as the name servers remain the same and only the A Name for www is changed.

SO my question is, is my theory sound or is there any reason why you would not have DNS with the registrar?

Many thanks
capt.
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Yes that was my question, registrar or host for DNS....

Sorry for the long winded question, I was trying to explain my dilemma with chicken and egg on changing DNS, when I realised that the registrar also does DNS which would make my dilemma disappear.

So what you say is that there is no reason whatsoever why DNS on registrar Nameservers is a bad idea?

Would you have no A, CNAME records on the hosting side?
Avatar of hecgomrec
I'm not clear also!!!

ISP:  Internet Service Provider, provides internet access solutions and can assign Private and Public IP address.

Registrar:   Place register and authorized to sell, rent and register domain names (shopperfest.us)

Hosting:   Is a service a "Registrar" may also offer (most offered by ISP) to their domain name customers and to other
                  domain name owners.  This means, one can place their website files there for remote access using the proper
                  tool to access those files: FTP, WWW, etc.

DNS hosting:   A service that runs Domain Name System servers. Most, but not all, domain name registrars include DNS
                          hosting service with registration.

DNS:

   A hierarchical distributed naming system for computers, services, or any resource connected to the Internet or a private network. It translates easily memorized domain names to the numerical IP addresses needed for the purpose of locating computer services and devices worldwide. The Domain Name System is an essential component of the functionality of the Internet.  

Hosted Exchange:

  A company (could be any of the above companies) that offers Microsoft Exchange mail services using their own servers.

In house Exchange or in Premises:

A Microsoft Exchange Server installed inside an individual or company's private network.


Now, having all these concepts clear....

If you are moving your website files to another Hosting, this should affect only your website access.  DNS servers will change to reflect the new server's IP address and web browser can find the site.  

If you change your DNS records host, MX and A records, Never did this!!! I don't think anything would be affected if you put the info before you remove it with the actual one. The records will still be pointing at the same place.

If you change your Hosted Exchange Company of course emails will be affected as you will have to move all mailboxes of the organization to the new one.

If you are changing ISP holding MX and A records, you should expect at least 48hrs. of your services being affected after the switch as your new IP address is being propagated world wide.

I personally never hold my records on the Registrar specially the MX records as we hold Exchange on Premises and one is likely to change registrar/host for better prices but ISP will always evolve and update speed, bandwidth, etc. to stay competitive therefore I keep them there.
Avatar of captain

ASKER

In context of my question, the registrar is the company that arranged the domainand therefor holds the registration info, as I stated in this case: NAME.COM. Every registrar has a Nameserver entry which either is themselves if you do DNS through them or the NS entries (as in this case) of the hosting company.

Hosting company in the context of my question is not the ISP but the company that provides the webspace for the www site. It is also not the registrar as that would render my question redundant.

The Mailserver is MS Hosted Exchange, which requires authentication on DNS level.

If I move my www space to a different host for testing I need to point a subdomain or the www to the new hosting space as it is a WP site that acts a bit funny on test IPs.  

So after having clarified this, the NS points from the registrar to the old host. I cannot simply point the whole domain to the NS of the new host as this would break MX because they sit on the DNS Records of the old host.

Moving the NS to the registrar and doing DNS there will remove this issue as I can point MX to Microsoft yet move the www IP to the new host as NS is with registrar and not host.

Is there any good reason not to use the registrar NS servers, because I cannot think of one, although that may not mean much hence my question...
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Thanks for confirming this. I have pushed this up to Registrar level now. I only have one registrar but multiple legacy hosts that I want to consolidate. Using your advice has relieved me from any doubt.

capt.