Domains

A domain name is a unique and human-readable label, like google.com or bbc.co.uk. Your browser and other software tools can use that label to find a specific computer on the Internet. Configured correctly, a domain name under your control can be pointed to WebFaction’s servers.

Getting a Domain Name

Domain names are managed by registrars. You can purchase a domain name through a registrar; the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) maintains a list of accredited registrars. You may already own a domain purchased through a registrar, reseller, or previous web host. If you don’t already own a domain name or you would like to purchase additional domain names, you can purchase one through a registrar or reseller. At this time, WebFaction is not a registrar and does not sell domains.

Pointing Your Domain to WebFaction’s Servers

Once you have a domain name, you can use your domain registrar’s website to point your domain name to WebFaction’s domain name servers:

Name Server	IP Address
ns1.webfaction.com	50.56.93.59
ns2.webfaction.com	178.79.142.142
ns3.webfaction.com	209.114.37.51
ns4.webfaction.com	173.230.141.144

Your domain name registrar may not require all four domain name servers; enter as many as your domain registrar supports.

Note

After you configure your registrar to point your domain name to WebFaction’s servers, it may take up to 48 hours for all requests to your domain to correctly resolve to WebFaction’s servers. The wait is often referred to as propagation. The delay is the result of caching, which is used heavily in the domain name system.

Just pointing your domains to WebFaction’s name servers isn’t enough to get a working site, however. See Adding a Domain to the Control Panel to get started using your domain with your WebFaction account.

Using Your Own Name Server

Optionally, you can use your own or third-party domain name servers instead of WebFaction’s name servers. Please use your registrar’s website to configure your domain’s name servers.

Once you have configured your registrar to use your preferred domain name server, you can use A records to map domain names to the IP address of your web server.

To find the IP address of the web server for a WebFaction-hosted website record with the control panel:

1. Log in to the control panel.
2. Click Domains / websites ‣ Websites. The > Home > Sites page loads.
3. Find the relevant website record in the list. The IP address is in the Ip column.

If you would like WebFaction’s mail servers to handle your mail, you will also need to configure mail exchanger (MX) records which point to each of WebFaction MX servers with equal priority:

MX Servers
mx7.webfaction.com
mx8.webfaction.com
mx9.webfaction.com

Adding a Domain to the Control Panel

Once you have pointed your domain to WebFaction’s servers, you are ready to add your domain to the control panel. To add the domain with the control panel:

1. Log in to the control panel.

2. Click Domains / websites ‣ Domains. The Domains panel appears.

3. Click the Add new domains button. The Domain names to add field appears.

   

4. In the Domain name to add field, enter one or more domain names (including the TLD) separated by spaces or newlines (e.g. example.com or example.com www.example.com).

5. Click the Add domains button. The domain names are added to the list of domain names and a confirmation message appears at the top of the control panel.

Note

If you are using your own name server, you may need to create A records to point your subdomains at your WebFaction server’s IP address.

Overriding DNS Records with the Control Panel

The WebFaction control panel lets you override DNS records to direct mail to other servers and enable services hosted elsewhere. To create a new DNS override with the control panel:

1. Log in to the control panel.
2. Click Domains / websites ‣ DNS overrides. The > Home > Dns page loads.
3. Click the Add new () button. The > Home > Dns > Add page loads.
4. Click to select the subdomain to which the override applies in the Subdomain menu.
5. As needed, enter the overriding records in these fields:
   • A Ip – the IP address to which the domain resolves
   • Cname – the canonical name for the domain, used to “rename” a domain
   • Mx name – the mail exchange record for the domain, used to specify a server where mail is to be received on behalf of the domain
   • Mx priority – the mail exchange priority number for the domain, used to indicate the priority level of the mail exchange server to SMTP clients, where lower mail exchange priorities numbers are given a greater preference as a destination for mail over larger numbers
   • TXT Record – the TXT record, commonly used for storing additional machine-readable information, such as Sender Policy Framework (SPF) records
   • SRV Record – the service record, used to configure multiple servers for a single domain
6. Click the Create button. The overriding record is created and the > Home > Dns > <domain name> > View page loads.

See also

To learn more about DNS records in general, see Wikipedia‘s List of DNS record types.

Example DNS Override: Changing a Domain’s Mail Server

Suppose you would like to use a different email server in place of WebFaction’s mail servers. For example, you might have your own mail server or you would like to use Google Apps to handle your mail. To use a different mail server you must create a new DNS override which points to the mail server:

1. Log in to the WebFaction control panel.
2. Click Domains / websites ‣ DNS overrides. The Dns list appears.
3. Click the Add new button ().
4. Click to select the domain for which you want to change the mail server from the Subdomain menu.
5. In the Mx name field, enter the mail server’s fully qualified domain name (for example, mail1.mydomain.tld).
6. If applicable, in the Mx priority field, enter an integer priority value. Smaller numbers have higher priority.
7. Click the Create button. The View page appears for the record, with confirmation that the override has been created.

Note

Many mail overrides use more than one server. You may need to repeat these steps for each additional mail server required by your mail configuration.

Now, when other mail servers look up your domain’s mail server, they will find the mail server(s) specified in your MX record. Instead of delivering mail to WebFaction’s mail server, they will attempt to deliver mail to the MX record servers in their priority order.

Example DNS Override: Creating an SRV Record to Enable Google Talk

You can use DNS override to add an SRV record on your domain to make additional services available. For example, you can add a set of SRV overrides to enable Google Talk (through the XMPP, formerly Jabber, protocol). To add the Google Talk DNS overrides:

1. Log in to the WebFaction control panel.

2. Add the _xmpp-server._tcp subdomain to a new or existing domain.

3. For each required SRV record:

   1. Click Domains / websites ‣ DNS overrides. The Dns list appears.

   2. Click the Add new () button. The Add form appears.

   3. In the Subdomain menu, click to select _xmpp-server._tcp.domain where domain is your domain name.

   4. In the SRV Record field, enter the portion of the SRV record after IN SRV. Examples:

      • 5 0 5269 xmpp-server.l.google.com.
      • 20 0 5269 xmpp-server4.l.google.com.

      Note

      The trailing dot (.) is required.

   5. Click the Create button. The View page appears with a confirmation message.

In a few minutes, after the DNS overrides have taken effect, Google Talk will reachable through your domain.

Troubleshooting DNS Problems

Sometimes there are hurdles to getting a domain name working with a website. Check out these solutions to DNS problems.

A Domain Still Resolves to a Previous Host

If your domain name is still resolving to your old hosting service there are a few steps you can take to get everything working:

• Wait up to 48 hours. If you just changed domain name servers, you will need to wait while the change to your domain information circulates throughout the domain name system.

• Flush your DNS cache. In much the same way your browser caches web pages and images to speed up page loads, your system may cache DNS requests to open connections faster. This is most obvious when one computer accesses your site correctly on WebFaction, while another still loads your site on your previous host. You can also detect DNS caching when the IP address of your domain (for example, when using ping) is still your previous host’s server’s IP address.

  To clear your DNS cache on Mac OS X:

  1. Open a terminal session.
  2. Enter dscacheutil -flushcache.
  3. Press Enter.

  To clear your DNS cache on Windows XP:

  1. Press Windows + R. The Run dialog appears.
  2. Enter cmd in the Open field.
  3. Press Enter. The command prompt appears.
  4. Enter ipconfig /flushdns.
  5. Press Enter.

  To clear your DNS cache on Windows Vista:

  1. Click Start ‣ All Programs ‣ Accessories.
  2. Right-click on Command Prompt. A menu appears.
  3. Click Run as administrator. The User Account Control dialog appears.
  4. Click Continue. The command prompt appears.
  5. Enter ipconfig /flushdns.
  6. Press Enter.