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How to Point Your Domain to an Outside Service

This guide shows you how to make your domain open a website or app that lives at another company. It works for site builders, shop tools and other hosts.

Domains and DNS2 min read9 steps

What does "point a domain" mean?

A domain is your website's address. DNS is like a phone book for the internet. It turns that address into a number that computers understand. Pointing a domain means changing that phone book entry so visitors reach the other service.

An external service is any company that is not your Hostvento hosting. Examples are a shop builder or a landing page tool. Almost all of them need one of two things from you. They want a few DNS records, or they want your nameservers changed.

Know the two ways

  • DNS records: You keep your DNS where it is. You add an A record or a CNAME record. An A record points a name to a number address. A CNAME record points a name to another name.
  • Nameservers: You give the whole domain to the other company. Nameservers are the computers that answer questions about your domain.

Records are safer if you also use email on the domain. Changing nameservers can break email unless the new place has your MX records. MX records are the ones that say where your email goes.

Steps

  1. Open the help page of the outside service. Find the section named "custom domain" or "connect domain".
  2. Write down the exact values it asks for. Do not guess them.
  3. Log in to the Hostvento client area at https://secure.hostvento.com/clientarea.php.
  4. Open Domains and then My Domains. Check which nameservers the domain uses.
  5. If the domain uses Hostvento nameservers, open the DNS zone editor for it. Your welcome email or Hostvento support can tell you where it is on your plan.
  6. Save a screenshot of the current records.
  7. Remove records that clash. For example, delete an old A record for @ before you add a new one.
  8. Add the new A or CNAME records. Use @ for the bare domain and www for the www version.
  9. Save. Go back to the outside service and click its verify button.
Tip: Never remove MX records unless you mean to stop using your current email.

After the change

Changes need time to spread. This is called propagation. It takes minutes, or up to a day or more. If it still fails, open a ticket at https://secure.hostvento.com/submitticket.php.

Quick recap

  • You either add DNS records or change nameservers.
  • Use records if you want to keep email working.
  • Copy values exactly from the other service.
  • Back up old records first.
  • Wait for propagation, then verify.