Redirecting personal website

[#1]

Hi there,

I'm hoping someone might be able to help me. I had a personal website set up with Plusnet from years ago and I'd like to direct it to new webspace. I didn't register the domain name with Plus.net, but when I go to my original domain registrar it looks as if the DNS records for the domain are now being held by force9 (I think force9 is linked to plus.net, IIRC?) so perhaps this got passed over at some point. I'm a little confused as plus.net don't appear to bill me for renewals on the domain name - the original registrant still does - but do appear to offer me the ability to change A and CNAME records for the domain? Is this correct?

My new webspace provider, greengeeks.com tell me that in order to complete the transfer, I first need to change the DNS settings for the domain name to point to their servers and then, once they've updated, unlock the domain and get the EPP authorisation code (it's a .com domain)

I couldn't see any way of doing any of this from Plus.net's web support pages so I thought I'd ask to see if I'm missing anything? Is this perhaps something that needs to be sorted by a phone call?

Cheers

[#2]

If you private message me details of the domain name then I'll explain your options.

[#3]

Thanks! Have DM'ed you.

[#4 · Accepted solution]

Thanks for the PM.

So, before considering options, it's worth a quick explanation as to how things are configured. There are three aspects to consider: -

• Where the domain is registered i.e. who you are paying for domain renewals
• Where the DNS is hosted i.e. with which company you create/delete/amend DNS records
• Where the DNS is pointed to i.e. where your website and mailboxes physically live

All three of the above can be managed by separate entities.

For your domain the registration is not with Plusnet. Looks to be with these folk. It's these guys you pay for renewal and these guys who can configure the nameservers for the domain.

The DNS is hosted with Plusnet. Where the DNS is hosted is determined by the nameservers. That's what this bit of your domain registration shows, the force9.net addresses are Plusnet's nameservers: -

Name Server: ns1.force9.net
Name Server: ns2.force9.net

Then looking at the the DNS records at our side, that leaves where the domain is pointed to.

For the website, it's our Homepages platform: -

$ dig [REDACTED] a

; <<>> DiG 9.11.5-P4-5.1+deb10u7-Debian <<>> [REDACTED] a
;; global options: +cmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 60693
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 3, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 1

;; OPT PSEUDOSECTION:
; EDNS: version: 0, flags:; udp: 4096
;; QUESTION SECTION:
;[REDACTED]                        IN      A

;; ANSWER SECTION:
[REDACTED]         14400   IN      CNAME   homepages.plus.net.
homepages.plus.net.     70700   IN      A       212.159.8.91
homepages.plus.net.     70700   IN      A       212.159.9.91

And for your email, it's your Plusnet email account: -

$ dig [REDACTED] mx

; <<>> DiG 9.11.5-P4-5.1+deb10u7-Debian <<>> [REDACTED] mx
;; global options: +cmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 7919
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 1, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 1

;; OPT PSEUDOSECTION:
; EDNS: version: 0, flags:; udp: 4096
;; QUESTION SECTION:
;[REDACTED]                    IN      MX

;; ANSWER SECTION:
[REDACTED]             300     IN      MX      10 mx.avasin.plus.net.

Now it gets a little confusing in terms of options, so it would help to understand exactly what you want to achieve?

These are the main options in order of disruption (lowest to highest)...

Website hosting only transfer

May not be an option, depends on what greengeeks can/can't do, however this is the only option that allows you to continue routing your domain emails via Plusnet.

1. Ask greengeeks if they can faciliate setting you up some webspace for your domain that you can point an external domain to using just DNS records

2. Create those DNS records via the domain management controls on the Plusnet website. 

3. You pay Ascio for domain renewal and greengeeks for web hosting

DNS hosting transfer 

Need to check with Greengeeks that this is possible i.e. can they host a domain name without taking ownership of the registration?

1. Change the nameservers via Acsio's account management section to point to greengeeks.com's nameservers instead of ours (greengeeks would need to provide nameserver details)

2. Once this has been done you have effectively moved the DNS hosting to greengeeks (second and third bullet points above). From here-on-in the DNS records that are used for the pointing will be those that you configure via the greengeeks account management area.

3. This will 'break' both your domain website *and* email. You cannot route email for an externally hosted domain to your Plusnet mailbox. You would need to use a mail service either provided by greengeeks, or some other company that allows you to simply point email DNS records at them.

4. You pay Ascio for domain renewal and greengeeks for web/email hosting

Full DNS hosting and registration transfer

As above, with the added step of appraoching Ascio and asking them to unlock your domain for transfer and provide an EPP code (which you then give to greengeeks). You pay greengeeks for everything, domain renewal, web hosting and (potentially) email hosting.

[#5]

Bob - thanks so much for the really detailed response (I think you helped me before with stuff like this around ten years ago!)

I reckon, it'll probably make sense to pull everything for this domain to greengeeks, since it seems unnecessarily complicated having it handled by three entities. I tried just editing the DNS stuff on plusnet's comtrol panel, but it didn't seem to be working. Although more involved, at least if greengeeks are hosting everything, they'll be able to make sure everything's connected nicely.

Armed with this info, I reckon I can get it unlocked by the original registrar and passed over. I don't really use the domain emails at the mo, and this can be probably sorted out more easily once everything's in the greengeeks basket via their cpanel interface.

Thanks again for all your time.