Use your own or external nameservers (such as Cloudflare) for your domain

Do you want to run the DNS for your domain yourself, or have it managed by another party such as Cloudflare? Then you set different nameservers for your domain. You don't need a separate package for that. In this article you'll read how to do that and which records you need to get your website and email at WebOké working.

Changing nameservers

• When ordering: in the window where you set up your domain, click Change next to Nameservers and enter your own nameservers.
• Later: in My WebOké, go to My Domains, click the domain and click the pencil icon on the Nameservers card. Fill in at least ns1 and ns2 (ns3 through ns5 are optional) and click Save nameservers.
• Nameservers on your own domain, such as ns1.yourdomain.nl? Then first create those using Register your own nameserver on the same domain page (a so-called glue record, see below).

Back to WebOké? Click Default nameservers in the same window and then Save nameservers. Our nameservers are ns1.webawere.nl and ns2.webawere.nl.

Nameservers on your own domain: glue records

Do you want nameservers with your own domain name, such as ns1.yourdomain.nl for yourdomain.nl? Then the registry also needs to know the IP address of those nameservers. Otherwise it's a circular problem: to look up ns1.yourdomain.nl you first need to know which nameservers yourdomain.nl has, and that is ns1.yourdomain.nl itself. That IP address at the registry is called a glue record.

1. On the domain page, click Register your own nameserver.
2. Under Nameserver (hostname), enter the name, for example ns1.yourdomain.nl.
3. Under Glue IP addresses, enter the IP address of that nameserver, one per line, and click Register.
4. Do the same for ns2 and then set the nameservers as described above.

You only need glue if the nameserver falls under the domain itself. If you use nameservers from another domain, such as those of Cloudflare, you don't need it. If your nameserver gets a different IP address, update the glue as well; otherwise your domain will become unreachable as soon as the old address disappears.

These records you set at the other party

Is your website or email hosted at WebOké, but the DNS somewhere else? Then set these records at that party, using your package's details:

Type   Name              Value
A      @ and www         the IP address of your package
A      mail              the IP address of your package
MX     @                 the server name of your package, e.g. linux2023.webawere.nl (priority 10)
TXT    @                 your SPF record, with include:webawere.nl
TXT    x._domainkey      the DKIM key from DNS Management in DirectAdmin
TXT    _dmarc            your DMARC record

• You can find the IP address and server name in the welcome email and in My WebOké under My Products. The IP address is also shown next to the A record in DNS Management.
• You can read how to copy the DKIM key in Setting up DKIM when the DNS is hosted with another party.
• If you have an IPv6 address in DNS Management, you can also set AAAA records for @ and www. This is optional.
• If you create a subdomain in DirectAdmin, also set it up at the other party as an A record or CNAME record.
• Is only your email hosted at WebOké (for example with an email package)? Then the A records for @ and www are not for us, and you should point those to your own web host instead.

Cloudflare: proxy off for mail

If you use Cloudflare, turn the proxy (the orange cloud) off for the A record of mail and for anything your mail program uses. Mail does not go through Cloudflare's proxy. Choose the grey cloud there (DNS only).

The proxy can also get in the way of the SSL certificate for your website: Let's Encrypt then can't see your server directly. Temporarily turn off the proxy until the certificate is issued, or use the Full (strict) SSL mode in Cloudflare.

Common mistakes

• Only one nameserver filled in. You need at least two.
• The nameservers are rejected. We check when saving that you've entered at least two valid nameserver names. After that, the change is sent to the registry. Some registries, such as DENIC for .de, first check whether your domain is already set up on those nameservers: every new nameserver must already know the domain and respond to it itself. If the zone isn't ready yet, they reject the change, with a message such as Nameservers are invalid or Answer must be authoritative. So set up the zone at the other party first and try again afterwards. For .nl, .com and most other extensions this isn't checked in advance: the change always goes through there, even if the zone isn't ready yet, and your domain will then temporarily stop working.
• You can't change the nameservers. This is only possible for a domain that is registered and active at WebOké. If your domain is still with another provider, or the transfer is still in progress, change the nameservers with that provider.
• Website works, but mail doesn't. Often the MX record or the A record for mail is missing, or the Cloudflare proxy is turned on.
• You change records in My WebOké and nothing happens. Then your domain is using external nameservers. Change the record at that party instead.

A nameserver change can take up to 24 hours before everyone sees it. Read How long does a nameserver or DNS change take?

Detailed explanation with screenshots: Changing nameservers in the WebOké manual and DNS in My WebOké and with external nameservers such as Cloudflare in the DirectAdmin manual.