What are Private Name Server and How to Add them.
Last month our site had 10,000 page views per day. Now that’s too much traffic for a shared hosting blog. Right? So, I started looking for the best hosting plan. And luckily, this Black Friday I got a sweet 80% off Hostgator and finally upgraded to their VPS hosting.
Over the years, I have tried shared hosting from various hosting providers. And they all look the same when you use their control panel. But this does not apply to VPS hosting. This is different. For example, unlike shared hosting, the control panel is different and you get full root access without any restrictions.
Part of the migration was easy. I used Hostgator’s Free Website Transfer service to move my files from my old shared hosting account to my new VPS hosting. Everything went smoothly. The next step was to update the nameserver. But it was a little tricky.
What is a NameServer?
Let’s say you bought a domain and hosting from two different sellers. How does your domain know where to point now? How do you link both of them?
Well, a nameserver will solve this problem.
When you buy any plan, you get 2 nameservers in your welcome email. You must add these two entries in your domain name server settings. This way, your domain will know where the website is hosted.
Likewise, if you change your host, you also need to update your nameserver. But the problem is that the process of updating the nameserver on shared hosting and VPS hosting is slightly different. For instance-
Public or private name server
In shared hosting we use a shared name server, i.e. it uses the domain name of your hosting provider. For example, ns123.hostgator.com and ns124.hostgator.com.
But if you upgrade to a VPS or dedicated hosting package, you get private name servers, i.e. with your domain name in it. For example, ns1.receivetipstricks.com and ns2.receivetipstricks.com . It also has 2 IP addresses associated with each name server.
How to add a nameserver
Common name server
The steps are different for each domain registrar, but here’s an overview.
To update your shared name server, sign in to your domain registrar’s website. Find Domain look for DNS Manager , then look for nameserver and enter the two nameservers you receive in your welcome email.
However, if you add your private nameserver the traditional way, you will get an error. This is because you need to first map your nameserver to the two IPs you get with it. This is done under the hostname.
Again, the steps to add a private nameserver are different for each registrar, but if you’re using GoDaddy, here’s how.
Private name server
Sign in to your GoDaddy account. Next to Domains, select DNS Management .
A new window will open, click Preferences Hostname Manage.
A pop-up window will open. Click on add hostname. On the hostname tab, enter ns1 in the hostname field (you do not need to enter the domain name as it is already listed), and then in the IP address field, enter the equivalent host IP address.
Repeat the same process for the second hostname, that is, click Add Hostname enter ns2 and this is the equivalent IP address. Then save your changes and your hostname will be registered.
You will immediately receive a confirmation email from Godaddy. However, sometimes it can take up to 2-3 hours to register the hostname, so please be patient.
Now go to nameserver manage add your private nameserver. And remove the old nameserver. See screenshot below.
And it’s all. Now all you have to do is wait. Name server propagation can take up to 48 hours. But you can see the effect within an hour or so.
Also, do not revoke your old host until you are sure that your nameserver propagation has been successful, or some of your visitors may face a problem.
How can you make sure you have successfully updated your nameserver?
There is no official way to do this. However, there are several workarounds.
Since you have changed your hosting, your website will have a new IP address. Now, if you know your old and new IP address (both mentioned in the hosting provider’s welcome email), check your link to your websites.
If you see a new IP address, it means that the nameserver has updated successfully, otherwise you will either have to wait or you did something wrong.
To ping your site from all over the world, use a DNS checker site. If you ping your website immediately after updating your nameserver, chances are you will see both the old and the new IP address of your website. Like the screenshot below.
