How to Change Your Domain DNS Settings

Changing your domain's DNS is how you tell the internet where your website lives and where your email should go. It is a few minutes of work, but one wrong record can take a site offline or send email into a void. This guide explains the difference between nameservers and DNS records, what each record type does, where to make each change, and how to check that it worked.

1. Nameservers or DNS records: which one do you change?

Two different settings are both called "DNS", and mixing them up causes most of the trouble.

• Nameservers say who answers for your domain. They are set at the registrar (Domain India, for a domain you registered with us) and point to one DNS provider: your hosting server, an outside DNS service such as Cloudflare, or a website platform.
• DNS records are the answers themselves: "the website is at this IP address", "email goes to this mail server". They live at whichever provider your nameservers point to.

A rule worth remembering: changing nameservers moves all of your DNS at once. If your email works today and you switch nameservers without re-creating the mail records at the new provider, email stops arriving. When you only need to change one thing, change the record, not the nameservers.

For more background, read What is a nameserver and why do I need it.

2. Find out where your DNS is managed today

Before you edit anything, find out which provider currently answers for your domain. A record only takes effect on the nameservers that serve your domain's zone. A record saved anywhere else is simply never read, even if the screen said it was saved. There are two common situations:

1. Your domain points to your Domain India hosting nameservers. The records live on your hosting server. Edit them in your hosting control panel: the Zone Editor in cPanel, or the DNS management page in DirectAdmin.
2. Your domain points somewhere else, such as Cloudflare or a website platform. Edit the records in that provider's dashboard.

If you are not sure which applies, or the nameservers belong to no service you recognise, open a support ticket before you change anything.

To check, sign in to the client area, open Domains → My domains, select the domain and look at the Nameservers tab. You can also check from any computer:

dig NS yourbusiness.in +short

On Windows, use nslookup -type=ns yourbusiness.in. The hostnames in the answer tell you who is in charge of your DNS.

3. DNS record types explained

These are the records you will meet most often. In the host column, @ means the domain itself (yourbusiness.in), and www means www.yourbusiness.in. The IP addresses below are documentation examples; always use the values your provider gives you.

A few details that matter in practice:

• TTL (time to live) is how long, in seconds, other servers may cache a record. 3600 is one hour and 14400 is four hours.
• SRV records point specific services, such as some calling or chat systems, to a server and port. You only need one if a provider asks for it.
• CAA is optional. If you add one, it must list every certificate authority your hosts use, or free SSL certificates will fail to issue or renew. Check with your host before you add one. The record editor on the client area's DNS tab does not offer CAA, so if you need one, add it in your hosting control panel or at your DNS provider, or contact support.
• NS records at the root are normally managed for you by the DNS provider. You change your domain's nameservers on the Nameservers tab, not by adding NS records.

4. How to make the change

Every domain registered with Domain India has a page in the client area with Overview, Nameservers, DNS and Transfer tabs (and Contacts for most domains). Nameserver changes go on the Nameservers tab. Record changes go wherever your nameservers point, which is usually your hosting control panel or your DNS provider rather than the client area.

Change your nameservers

The transfer lock does not block nameserver changes, so there is no need to unlock the domain. The Custom nameservers (glue records) section at the bottom of the tab is only for people who run their own DNS server and want nameservers such as ns1.yourbusiness.in. Most customers can ignore it.

Add or edit DNS records

Edit records at the provider your nameservers point to, which you found in section 2.

• On Domain India hosting nameservers: sign in to your hosting control panel and use its DNS editor. See how to make DNS changes in cPanel or how to manage DNS records in DirectAdmin.
• On an outside DNS provider or platform: add the records in that provider's dashboard.

In any editor, you choose the type (A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, TXT and so on), then fill in the host (@ for the domain itself, or a subdomain such as www or mail), the value and the TTL. MX and SRV records also need a priority. Save each record, and repeat for every record your provider asked for.

What the client area's DNS tab shows. For a domain on hosting nameservers or an outside DNS provider, the DNS tab says the records are managed wherever the nameservers point and cannot be edited there. That is expected: use your control panel or DNS provider instead. Where the tab does show a record list, those records take effect only while the domain uses the nameservers that serve that zone. If the tab warns that the records are not in use, anything you add there is saved but never read.

5. Common setups, step by step

Point your domain to Domain India hosting

Open your hosting service in the client area. The Point a domain to this hosting card gives you two options:

• Option 1, nameservers: copy the nameservers shown and enter them on the domain's Nameservers tab. Your hosting control panel then manages all of the domain's records, including email. This is the simplest choice when the website and email are both on the hosting plan.
• Option 2, A records: keep your current DNS provider and add two A records, @ and www, pointing to the server IP address shown on the card. Choose this when your email or other services are managed elsewhere and you do not want to move them.

Once DNS points to the server, the free SSL certificate can be issued. For a full walkthrough, read Connecting your domain to your web hosting.

Point your domain to an external website host

Website builders and store platforms (Shopify, Wix, Squarespace, Webflow, Blogger, WordPress.com and others) usually ask for:

• an A record for @ pointing to an IP address, and
• a CNAME record for www pointing to a hostname on their platform.

These values differ between platforms, and sometimes between accounts on the same platform, so copy them from the platform's own "connect a domain" page rather than from a list on the internet. Some platforms offer to "connect using nameservers" instead. Avoid that if your email is somewhere else, because it moves all of your DNS to the platform.

Building with the Domain India AI Website Builder? See How to connect your domain to the website builder. It only needs the records it shows you, with no nameserver change.

Use Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 for email

Email only needs MX and TXT records (plus a CNAME or two for Microsoft), so there is no reason to change nameservers.

Delete the old MX records when you add the new ones. If old and new MX records are both present, some messages go to the old mailbox. See Setting up Google Workspace email and Understanding SPF, DKIM and DMARC.

Keep your website here and your email elsewhere

This is a common and perfectly good setup. The website records (A for @ and www) point to your hosting server, and the mail records (MX, SPF, DKIM) point to your email provider.

• Domain on your hosting nameservers: in cPanel's Zone Editor, replace the MX records with your email provider's and update the SPF record. Then set Email Routing to Remote Mail Exchanger, so the server stops treating the mail as local. In DirectAdmin, change the MX records and untick the option that lets the server handle the domain's email.
• Domain on another DNS provider: add the A records for the website and the mail provider's MX and TXT records in the same zone, at that provider.

To reverse this later, read switching from third-party email back to your hosting email.

6. How long do DNS changes take?

DNS changes usually take effect within a few hours, and can take up to 24-48 hours to reach every network. There is no guaranteed time.

The delay is caused by caching, not by a queue at Domain India. Internet providers and devices remember DNS answers for as long as the record's TTL allows. Until the cached copy expires, some visitors still see the old answer, so the new setting can reach one network before another.

• Record changes follow the old record's TTL. A record with a one-hour TTL is usually updated everywhere within about an hour of the change.
• Nameserver changes can take longer, because resolvers also cache the old nameservers for as long as the extension's registry allows.
• Your own computer and browser cache DNS too. If a phone on mobile data shows the new site and your laptop does not, the change has worked and your laptop is still using its cached copy.

7. How to check your DNS changes

Check with a DNS lookup rather than only a browser, because a browser can show you a cached page.

On macOS or Linux, use dig:

dig NS yourbusiness.in +short        # which nameservers answer for the domain
dig A yourbusiness.in +short         # the website's IPv4 address
dig CNAME www.yourbusiness.in +short # where www points
dig MX yourbusiness.in +short        # mail servers and priorities
dig TXT yourbusiness.in +short       # SPF and verification records
dig A yourbusiness.in @1.1.1.1 +short # ask a specific public resolver

On Windows, use nslookup in Command Prompt or PowerShell:

nslookup -type=ns yourbusiness.in
nslookup -type=mx yourbusiness.in
nslookup -type=txt yourbusiness.in
nslookup yourbusiness.in 8.8.8.8

How to read the results:

• The NS answer is not what you set: the nameserver change has not taken effect yet, or it was saved with a typo. Check the Nameservers tab.
• The NS answer is right but a record is missing or old: the record was added at a different provider from the one your nameservers point to, or the old value is still cached.
• Public resolvers disagree: the change is still spreading. Wait for the TTL to pass.

Online DNS propagation checkers, which query resolvers in many countries at once, and your email provider's own setup checker are useful second opinions. If something still looks wrong, read Debugging nameserver and DNS issues.

8. Common mistakes to avoid

9. Where Domain India fits

Every domain you register with Domain India is managed from one client area: nameservers, the transfer lock and contacts. A domain can point to any website platform, DNS provider or server you choose; if you are not sure how to set up DNS for a domain with no hosting plan, open a support ticket before you change anything.

If you want your website and email in one place, a Domain India hosting plan manages your DNS through its control panel as soon as you point the domain's nameservers to it. Domain India list prices on 19 September 2026, excluding 18% GST: DirectAdmin hosting from ₹100 a month and cPanel hosting from ₹125 a month, both with email accounts included.

If you want professional email on its own, alongside any website host, Business Email is ₹60 per mailbox a month. It includes DKIM signing on every message, and SPF and DMARC records are provided for your domain.

Frequently asked questions

Ready to make the change? Open My domains in the client area, point a domain to DirectAdmin or cPanel hosting, add Business Email, or register a new domain. If anything is unclear, contact support and include your domain name and the records you are trying to set.