What are nameservers?
DNS is like a phone book for the internet. It turns a website name into a number that computers understand. Nameservers are the computers that keep that phone book for your domain. They work like a signpost that tells visitors where your website and email live.
You change them when you move your site to a new host. Your new host gives you the right names to use. They often come as two or more, like ns1.something.com and ns2.something.com.
Before you start
- Get the nameservers from your new host. For Hostvento hosting, look in your welcome email, or ask support.
- Copy them exactly, with no spaces.
- Be careful. Wrong nameservers can take your website and email offline. Write down the old ones first.
Steps
- Go to https://secure.hostvento.com/clientarea.php and log in.
- Click the Domains menu.
- Click My Domains.
- Find your domain. Click the menu at the end of its row and choose Manage Domain.
- Click Nameservers in the menu. It may sit under Management Tools.
- Choose Use custom nameservers.
- Type your new nameservers in the boxes. Fill as many as you were given.
- Click Change Nameservers.
A message tells you that the change was saved.
How long does it take?
Changes spread across the internet slowly. This is called propagation. It often takes a few hours. In some cases it can take up to 24 to 48 hours. During this time, some visitors see the old site and some see the new one.
Check the change
- Wait a few hours.
- Open your website in a private browser window.
- Check that email still works.
If the domain is not with Hostvento
Log in to the company where it is registered. Look for words like Nameservers, DNS or Domain settings. The steps are similar.
Need help? Open a ticket at https://secure.hostvento.com/submitticket.php.
Quick recap
- Nameservers point your domain to the right host.
- Get the new ones from your host and write down the old ones.
- In the client area, open Domains, My Domains, Manage Domain, then Nameservers.
- Save and wait for the change to spread.