Changing nameservers?

I dont get it anymore im all confused now. I have currently my domainname hosted with my old host. I want to change the dns zone by entering the ip adresses of the nameservers to redirect/point the domainname to the new host. I have changed the ip adress this afternoon. I just checked and now im seeing a 404 error page of my new host. Is that cause it didnt resolve yet or what am i doing wrong. My old was most but my registrar of the domainname as well. They allow me to change the dns zone by entering ip adress only.

 

Perhaps you should check with the old host? Anytime I´ve done that the changeover has been seamless. Some hosts charge a fee to change away from them.

 

You cannot point the domain to ip addresses as nameservers. You must be able to use the nameserver name; then they can pick up the ip addresses.

 

Ah, that´s true. Well spotted. I have always use the nameserver name and not the IP too.

 

If you are just talking about the nameserver addresses - you should be using a fully qualified nameserver - like ns1.yourdomain.com - not an ip address. It's against the standard to use an ip address.

ns1.yourdomain.com must be a registered nameserver with your registrar as well. Most registrars have a simple way of filling out a form to do this.

It sounds like maybe you are trying to point your nameserver at your website. Your nameserver should be a dns server that will resolve www.yourdomain .com to an IP address.

Or maybe I'm just barking up the wrong tree

 

And when you get a new host you should get a temporary url ie yoursite.yournewhost.com or IP address so you can always overwrite your index page on your old host with a re-direct script to your new temporary url/IP at your new host to minimise any lost traffic during propagation when people get sent to the old server.

 

That's just how some CPs operate. One of my registrars requires both, the IP address and the domain name. The other just requires the domain name and looks up the IP address on its own. It is easy to verify what's going on. Type this at the command prompt (either Linux or Windows):

> nslookup
set type=ns
your-domain.com.

The result should be a list of your DNS servers. If you are getting your old servers, then the problem is with the registrar. If you get new DNS server, carry on and type this:

set type=a
www.your-domain.com.

This should give you the IP address of your web server. If it is something else, then the problem is with your current DNS server. If the IP address is correct, carry on and type this:

exit
> telnet your-ip-address 80
GET / HTTP/1.0
Host: www.your-domain.com

Hit Enter twice after the domain name. Also, keep in mind that it's a telnet session - everything you type gets sent to the server right away. If you failed, you need to start over again.

If you get your page, then everything is all right. If you get something else, your web server is set up incorrectly.

J.D.

 

Thanks as impressed as always by the answers i got. Tried using telnet and the dsnlookup tool. Never knew that it is so easy to execute these commands so easy. I just checked the namserver and it isnt pointing/changed yet to the new host. I have just send the old host a email to change it for me. The ip was pointing to a nameserver so i have changed that into the right ip adress of the server. Takes about three houres to see the effect. The telnet seession sort of squared me a bit , the only thing that i saw was my html code for my main index page. And at the end ,the session with the host got lost. But im for sure going to use these commands later on again. Thanks

 

J.D. You are the MAN! Great stuff. Thank you.

 

If you want to keep your domainname with your old host and the old host doesnt allow you to change the nameservers. It only allows me to change the dns zone using ip adresses of the nameservers. What should i do next then?

 

In that case you need to be sure that the new host has given you your own ip- not a shared - then in your zone file editor at the old host; you put in the ip address that the new host has given you.

You may want to check with the new host; however- this may work even with a shared ip. Depends on how they've set up apache on their end.

Are you sure there's no way to change the A record in your zone file editor? It may be in another spot.

 

Thanks guys. Im just impatience. It works for a shared ip adress as well. I ahve asked some guys to check the my website. Located in the US and Russia and they all see my forum as it should look like. The DNS isnt updated from my side yet so thats why it isnt showing correctly.