When you've added Web Hosting, Email Only or a Forwarding service to your domain name, you will need to point your domain names DNS to these services.
Your domain name will either automatically use the correct DNS records or you will have to add the correct DNS records yourself. Which situation applies depends on your domain settings in the control panel.
In this article we'll show you how to recognize the corrects domain settings and how to manually configure the correct DNS records for Web Hosting, Email Only and Forwarding services.
This article describes how to set the correct DNS settings for Web Hosting. The steps in this article also apply if you're using Email Only or a Forwarding service with your domain name.
The TransIP settings in the control panel
When you've added Web Hosting, Email Only or a Forwarding service to a domain name, the default ‘TransIP Settings’ in your Control Panel will be used. The TransIP settings make sure that your domain automatically uses the TransIP name servers and the correct DNS records are pointed at your Web Hosting service.
The use of the TransIP name servers allows the DNS settings in your control panel to be active. The DNS records of a domain tell the domain name to which web server and mail server it should point. There are several other purposes for DNS records; these are the primary purposes used for our Web Hosting services.
Take note: When you've configured your own default DNS settings, the TransIP settings will not be automatically activated for new domain names.
In stead, your default DNS settings will be used. Read the article 'The default domain settings' for more information on these settings.
In order to check if the TransIP settings are enabled, go to ‘Domains & Hosting’ in the control panel. Now select the domain on the left side (don’t check the box) and scroll down. To check if the TransIP settings are activated, take a look next to '(Advanced) domain settings'.
If the TransIP settings are activated, your domain name will automatically use the correct DNS records and nameservers for your Web Hosting service.
If the TransIP settings are deactivated, then 'Advanced domain settings' will be displayed. This means you have full control over your domain names DNS records and nameservers.
In that case you may already be using the correct DNS records for your Web Hosting service. It's equally possible you've added, edited or deleted DNS records and nameservers yourself.
If you want your domain name to (partly) use the DNS records of your Web Hosting service, read the steps below. In here you will learn how to recognize and add the DNS records for your Web Hosting service.
The DNS records of your Web Hosting service
Right after enabling the ‘Advanced domain settings’, you will receive an email from us with the default DNS settings for your Web Hosting service. This email is sent to the email address listed on the ‘My account’ page in your control panel and has the subject ‘DNS settings Web Hosting service for [yourdomain.extension]’.
If you've edited or removed DNS records of Web Hosting service, you can use the information in this email to restore the correct DNS records of your Web Hosting service.
We will now provide a short description of the DNS records of your Web Hosting service, in the same order as the email lists them.
We will show you how to configure each type of DNS record below. For a summary about configuring DNS records and nameservers, please read the article 'Entering DNS records and nameservers via the control panel'.
A and AAAA records
The A and AAAA records allow visitors of your domain name to be directed towards the IP-address of your Web Hosting service.
Please note: The IP addresses of your Web Hosting service are assigned randomly. IP addresses will differ per Web Hosting service. Make sure you only use the DNS records as mentioned in the email mentioned above.
You can find four sets of A and AAAA records in the email.
Wildcards
- Name: *
- Type: A
- Value: IP address
- Name: *
- Type: AAAA
- Value: IP address
These A and AAAA records are set up with a wildcard, as shown by the name *. Wildcards allow all subdomains that don’t have their own DNS record to use the entered value.
This means that you don’t need to set a separate DNS record when you create a subdomain on your Web Hosting service.
Take note that using a wildcard doesn't work when you enter a random input in front of the domain name(like asdasd.domain.com). You will have to create a subdomain on your Web Hosting service for it to work.
The 'root'-domain
- Name: @
- Type: A
- Value: IP address
- Name: @
- Type: AAAA
- Value: IP address
These are the A and AAAA records for your primary domain, also called the root domain, as shown by the name @. This record allows visitors of your root domain (without the www. in front of it) to land on the IP address provided in the value.
If you want to have MX and CNAME records point at the DNS record of your root domain, you need to use an @ in the 'Value' field.
If you've created a subdomain in your control panel and you only want this subdomain to point to your Web Hosting service, make sure to create a seperate A record for this subdomain, using the Web Hostings IP address as the value:
- Name: subdomain
- Type: A
- Value: IP address of your Web Hosting
Make sure you only add the subdomain in the 'Name' field. Our DNS software automatically completes the subdomain with the root domain in the background.
- Check the article 'Entering DNS records and nameservers via the control panel' for a basic description about entering DNS records.
- Check the article 'Setting an A record' for more information about configuring A records.
- Check the article 'Setting an AAAA record' for more information about configuring AAAA records.
MX records
The MX record allows your domain name to understand which email server to contact in order to be able to receive email.
- Name: @
- Type: MX
- Value: 10 mx.transip.email.
This MX record allows you to use the email services of your Web Hosting service.
- Check the article 'Entering DNS records and nameservers via the control panel' for a basic description about entering DNS records.
- Check the article 'Setting an MX record' for more information about configuring MX records.
TXT records
- Name: @
- Type: TXT
- Value: v=spf1 include:_spf.transip.email ~all
This is a so called ‘SPF’ record. This is a variation on the TXT record that indicates which IP addresses and hostnames are authorized to send emails from your domain name. This record prevents emails sent from your domain to be marked as spam.
- Check the article 'Entering DNS records and nameservers via the control panel' for a basic description about entering DNS records.
- Check the article 'Setting an SPF record' for more information about configuring SPF records.
CNAME records
With CNAME records you can have a subdomain of your domain name point to another address. The CNAME record that we use for our Web Hosting services makes it easier to configure email address on your Web Hosting service and makes your website accessible by www.yourdomain.extension.
Take note that the value of a CNAME record can’t be an IP address.
CNAME records for setting up email
- Name: autoconfig
- Type: CNAME
- Value: autoconfig.transip.email.
- Name: autodiscover
- Type: CNAME
- Value: autodiscover.transip.email.
These two records ensure that when you set up an email account in Outlook or Thunderbird, you can opt to select the automatic configuration. Both email programs can utilize these records to directly retrieve the correct data for the configuration of your email addresses. Take a look at the article 'Set up your email address' if you need to manually set up an email address.
CNAME records for subdomains
- Name: ftp
- Type: CNAME
- Value: @
- Name: www
- Type: CNAME
- Value: @
These two records have been added for your convenience. The record named ‘www’ allows your website to be directly accessible by ‘www.yourdomain.extension’.
The DNS record with the name ‘ftp’ was formerly used to access files on your website using FTP. Nowadays we use the more secure protocol SFTP. The credentials for using SFTP on your Web Hosting service can be found in the control panel. With these credentials you can easily access and manage your website files with SFTP clients like FileZilla and Cyberduck.
Because some of our olders users might still connect using the 'ftp' DNS record, this record is still present in the ‘TransIP settings’. New users of our Web Hosting services can ignore this specific DNS record without any issues.
DKIM records
- Name: transip-A._domainkey
- Type: CNAME
- Value: _dkim-A.transip.email.
- Name: transip-B._domainkey
- Type: CNAME
- Value: _dkim-B.transip.email.
- Name: transip-C._domainkey
- Type: CNAME
- Value: _dkim-C.transip.email.
These CNAME records allow your domain name to make use of DKIM. DKIM is used to guarantee the authenticity of email messages. By using DKIM, any emails you send are signed with a so called ‘private key’.
The receiving party can then validate the email by means of the ‘public key’ which can be found in the DKIM records. Using DKIM records ensures that the email has not been altered during the sending and proves that the email is actually sent by you.
Why are 3 DKIM records being used?
It is discouraged to use only one DKIM record and therefore only one Private key. That is the reason why we included three DKIM records in the DNS of your Web Hosting service. This offers us the possibility to easily rotate the private keys and thus continue to guarantee the authenticity of your emails.
Take note that there are certain limitations when configuring CNAME records. For instance, while you can point a CNAME record to a subdomain of the same domain name, you can't point it to a different (sub)domain registered at TransIP.
Read the article 'Setting a CNAME record' for more information on these limitations.
- Check the article 'Entering DNS records and nameservers via the control panel' for a basic description about entering DNS records.
- Check the article 'Setting a CNAME record' for more information about configuring CNAME records.
In this article we explained how to find and set the default DNS settings of your Web Hosting service for your domain name.
If you have any questions regarding this article, don't hesitate to contact support. You can reach out to them using the 'Contact us' button on the bottom of this page.
If you wish to discuss this article with other users, feel free to leave a comment below.
