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To connect a GoDaddy or Namecheap domain to a server, first find the domain’s authoritative nameservers. Those nameservers identify the DNS provider whose control panel you must use. You can either delegate the domain to nameservers supplied by your hosting company, or keep the current DNS provider and create an A record pointing the root domain (@) to your server’s IPv4 address. In both cases, configure www, preserve email and verification records, and allow time for DNS caches to update.

What you need before changing DNS

Have these details ready before opening either registrar’s DNS editor:

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  • The server’s public IPv4 address. If your host supplied an IPv6 address and your server is configured for it, record that separately for an AAAA record.
  • Any hostname your hosting provider requires for www, such as a provider-managed hostname for a CNAME.
  • Access to the registrar account and, if DNS is hosted elsewhere, access to that DNS provider as well.
  • A list of existing A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, TXT and other records. Include SPF, DKIM and DMARC records, domain-verification records, subdomains and service records.
  • The web server’s intended domain names, such as example.com and www.example.com, so the server can route requests after DNS points to it.

The registrar where you bought the domain is not necessarily the DNS provider. The authoritative nameservers assigned to the domain determine where its DNS zone is edited. A domain registered at GoDaddy may use hosting-company nameservers, and a Namecheap domain may use a separate DNS service. Editing records in the wrong control panel has no effect on public DNS.

Choose between nameserver delegation and individual records

Decide who should own the DNS zone before making a change. The two approaches solve different problems.

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Method Who edits DNS afterward Email and verification records Setup and propagation Main risk
Delegate to hosting nameservers Your hosting provider’s DNS panel You must recreate every required record in the new zone; records left behind at the old provider are no longer authoritative Usually simpler when the host manages the whole site; nameserver changes can take up to 24–48 hours worldwide Changing nameservers can replace the existing DNS configuration and interrupt mail, verification or other services
Keep current nameservers and add records The current authoritative DNS provider Existing records remain in the same zone, provided you do not delete or overwrite them More control; many individual record changes take about 30–60 minutes, with cached results varying by network Conflicting records or an incorrect IP leave the domain pointed at the wrong destination

Choose delegation when your host explicitly requires its nameservers or when you want the host to manage the complete DNS zone. Keep the current nameservers when email, verification, multiple subdomains or another service already depends on the existing provider and you want to change only the website destination.

Method 1: delegate the domain to your hosting provider

Your host should give you at least two authoritative nameservers. Delegation is performed in the registrar’s nameserver settings, not by creating an ordinary NS record for the bare domain inside the old zone.

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Record the existing zone first

Copy the current records or export the zone if your provider offers that option. Pay particular attention to MX records for mail, TXT records for SPF, DKIM, DMARC and ownership checks, and CNAME records used by applications. Once delegation changes, the new provider’s zone is authoritative; the old records will not automatically follow.

Enter the host’s nameservers

  1. Open the domain’s nameserver controls at the registrar.
  2. Choose the option for custom or host-provided nameservers.
  3. Enter each nameserver exactly as supplied by the host, then save. Do not add an IP address unless the registrar specifically asks for one; a nameserver value is normally a hostname.
  4. Open the hosting provider’s DNS zone and recreate the records you inventoried, including the website records, mail records, verification TXT values and required subdomains.

For Namecheap shared hosting, the documented choice is Namecheap Web Hosting DNS. Its listed nameservers for that service are dns1.namecheaphosting.com and dns2.namecheaphosting.com. Use those values only when you are actually using that Namecheap hosting service; a different host will provide different nameservers.

When delegation is the wrong choice

Do not switch nameservers merely because the website is moving if your mail or verification setup must remain managed by the current DNS provider. A nameserver change can make the new zone incomplete even though the website itself appears correctly configured. In that case, use the record-level method below.

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Method 2: keep the current nameservers and point records to the server

This method changes only the records needed for the site. The root label is conventionally written as @. Replace the example address below with your server’s real public IPv4 address.

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GoDaddy: add the root A record

  1. Sign in to GoDaddy and open Domain Portfolio.
  2. Select the domain, open DNS, and choose Add New Record.
  3. Choose record type A.
  4. For the host or name, enter @ for the root domain. For a separate subdomain, enter only its label, such as blog or shop.
  5. Enter the server’s IPv4 address as the value, select an appropriate TTL, and save.

An A record is the DNS record that indicates a domain’s IPv4 address. Before saving, inspect the existing records. Replacing an A record that currently serves a website or another service can stop that service, and changing a record used by mail-related infrastructure can produce an outage even when the new web server is healthy.

GoDaddy: configure www

Find the existing www record and edit it rather than creating a second record with the same name. Use a CNAME when www should follow another hostname, such as a hostname supplied by your host. If your host instructs you to point directly to the server, create an A record for www with the same IPv4 address as the root. A CNAME must point to a hostname, not an IP address.

Remove a conflicting old CNAME or A record for www before adding the replacement. A host cannot have the normal combination of a CNAME and other records at the same name.

Namecheap: add the root A record

  1. Sign in to Namecheap, open Domain List, and select Manage beside the domain.
  2. If the domain is using Namecheap DNS, open Advanced DNS.
  3. In Host Records, select Add New Record.
  4. Choose A Record, enter @ as the host, enter the server’s IPv4 address, choose the desired TTL and save.

Namecheap uses @ for the root domain and www for the web subdomain. The same host-field convention applies to custom labels such as api or store, and Namecheap also supports wildcard records when a wildcard is genuinely required.

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Namecheap: configure www and remove conflicts

Add a CNAME with host www and target the root domain when that matches your host’s instructions. Otherwise, add an A record for www with the required IPv4 address. Delete or edit any URL redirect, old A record, or old CNAME that uses the same host label. Newly registered Namecheap domains can contain parking records; those records must be removed when they conflict with the destination you are configuring.

If the hosting company supplied nameservers instead of an origin IP, do not place those nameservers in Host Records. Return to the domain’s Nameservers section, choose Custom DNS, and enter the supplied values. Namecheap shared-hosting customers can choose Namecheap Web Hosting DNS as the documented alternative.

Which DNS record should you create?

Record Purpose Typical website use Important constraint
A Maps a hostname to an IPv4 address @ or www to the server’s IPv4 address Enter an IPv4 address, not a hostname
AAAA Maps a hostname to an IPv6 address @ or www to a configured IPv6 listener Add it only when the server really accepts IPv6 traffic; a broken IPv6 path can make some visitors fail even when IPv4 works
CNAME Maps one hostname to another hostname www to the root domain or to a provider hostname It targets a hostname, never an IP address, and cannot normally coexist with other records at the same name
TXT Stores text used for verification and policy SPF, DKIM, DMARC and ownership verification Preserve existing values when changing nameservers or editing the website records
NS Delegates a zone or subdomain to nameservers Registrar-level delegation or a deliberately delegated subdomain Use the registrar’s nameserver controls for the bare domain rather than inventing an NS record in the ordinary zone editor

Do not add an AAAA record just because your server has an IPv6 address on paper. The address must be routed to the machine, allowed through the firewall and served by the web stack. Otherwise, browsers that prefer IPv6 may receive a failure before trying IPv4.

Prepare the server for the new hostname

DNS only sends traffic to an address; it does not configure the web server. Before or while the DNS change propagates, make sure the server is ready to answer for both names.

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  1. Bind the web service to the public interface and allow the required HTTP and HTTPS ports through the server and provider firewalls.
  2. Add both the root domain and www to the web server’s virtual-host or site configuration. The exact setting may be called server_name, host names, domains or an equivalent field.
  3. Choose one canonical hostname and configure a redirect from the other if your application requires a single URL. Make sure the redirect does not point back to itself.
  4. Install or request an HTTPS certificate that covers every hostname visitors will use. Certificate issuance normally requires DNS to resolve to the intended service or requires a separate verification method.
  5. Check application settings for the public URL, allowed hostnames, callback URLs and cookie domain. A correct A record cannot fix an application that rejects the Host header.

How long DNS changes take

Individual record edits often take about 30–60 minutes to appear, and a newly created Namecheap A record is normally effective in about 30 minutes. Nameserver changes are slower: Namecheap’s shared-hosting guidance allows up to 24–48 hours worldwide. These are operational estimates, not guarantees. Recursive resolvers and local devices cache answers according to TTL and may update at different times.

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Do not repeatedly edit a record because one network still shows the old address. Every edit can create a new value to cache and makes diagnosis harder. Note the time of the change, the old value and the new value, then test again after the relevant interval.

Verify the connection from multiple networks

  1. Check the active nameservers first. If they are not the registrar’s default values, open the DNS editor at the provider those nameservers identify.
  2. Resolve the root domain and www separately. Confirm that each returns the intended A or CNAME destination. If you created an AAAA record, test that IPv6 result as well.
  3. Repeat the lookup from a second network, such as a mobile connection, because a single resolver may still have a cached answer.
  4. Open both HTTP and HTTPS URLs. Confirm that the request reaches your server, the certificate matches the hostname and the application returns the expected site rather than a default virtual host.
  5. Test mail and verification-dependent services after any nameserver change. A website can work while an omitted MX or TXT record silently breaks another service.

Command-line tools such as nslookup or dig can display the answer returned by a particular resolver. The important comparison is not one command’s format but whether independent resolvers show the intended destination and whether the web server responds for the same hostname.

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Troubleshoot a domain that still does not work

The DNS editor has no effect

Inspect the domain’s authoritative nameservers. If they belong to a hosting company or third-party DNS service, the registrar’s local record editor is not authoritative. Make the change in the provider named by the active nameservers, or change delegation deliberately after copying the existing zone.

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The root works but www fails

The root and www are separate hostnames. Confirm that www has its own CNAME or A record, that the target is spelled exactly as the host requires and that no old redirect or conflicting record remains. Add www to the server’s virtual-host and certificate configuration as well.

The new site appears for some people but not others

This is consistent with resolver caching during propagation. Compare the result from multiple networks and allow roughly 30–60 minutes for ordinary record edits or up to 24–48 hours after nameserver delegation. If the interval has passed, verify that every resolver is querying the nameservers you intended and that those nameservers contain the new record.

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Email stopped after the change

Review MX and TXT records first. A nameserver switch may have replaced the zone with one containing only web records, while a record-level edit may have overwritten an existing host entry. Restore the mail and authentication records from your inventory at the authoritative provider, then allow their TTL and propagation time to elapse.

The registrar shows a parking page

Newly registered domains can include parking A records or redirects. Delete or replace those records at the authoritative provider. Also check that the domain is not delegated to a different nameserver set where the parking configuration still exists.

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HTTPS shows a certificate or redirect error

First confirm that DNS resolves consistently to the intended server. Then verify that the certificate includes the exact hostname being opened, that the server presents the correct certificate for that virtual host and that HTTP-to-HTTPS redirects do not form a loop. DNS propagation alone does not install a certificate or configure the application.

Only IPv6 visitors fail

Temporarily remove an incorrect AAAA record or correct the IPv6 route, firewall and web-server listener. Keep the AAAA record only when the server is reachable over IPv6 and serves the same hostname and certificate as IPv4.

Preview the site before public DNS changes

A hosts-file entry can send requests from your own computer to the new server before public DNS changes. Add the server’s IP address followed by the domain and any required subdomain in the hosts file, then test the site in a browser. This changes name resolution only on that computer; it does not alter the domain’s DNS zone, and visitors continue reaching the old destination until the real DNS update propagates.

Remove the temporary entry after testing. Otherwise, your computer can continue using the preview address even after public DNS has changed, making later troubleshooting misleading.

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Final change checklist

  • Authoritative nameservers identified and the correct DNS provider selected.
  • Server IPv4 address confirmed; IPv6 added only if fully supported.
  • Existing website, mail, verification and subdomain records inventoried.
  • Either host nameservers entered at the registrar, or root and www records edited in the current authoritative zone.
  • No duplicate or conflicting A, CNAME, URL-redirect or parking records remain for the same hostname.
  • Web server, firewall, virtual hosts, application URL and HTTPS certificate configured for the domain.
  • Root and www tested from more than one network after the expected propagation interval.

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