In this article, we will focus on the benefits of the NextDNS system and the 5 steps that you can follow to get more control over your DNS. While in some situations it may be better to stick with using your host provider’s default DNS, there are many situations where using NextDNS may be better suited to your needs and allow you to have more control over your DNS. Let’s take a look at each of these benefits and steps below.
Step 1 – Create an account
The first step is to create an account with NextDNS. You can do this by going to their website and clicking on the Create an account button. Once you have entered your information and agreed to their terms, you will be able to log in to your new account. Your email address will also serve as your username.
Change nameservers: From there, click Change Nameservers for the domain name that you are managing under Step 2 above. Click the Edit button next to Nameserver 1 (ns1.yourdomainname) and add in one of NextDNS’s name servers listed below (see Step 4). Repeat this process for Name Server 2 (ns2.yourdomainname). Click Update when finished. Now, simply wait a few minutes before checking your updated records from either ns1 or ns2 again from the steps above to see if they’ve been updated!
Step 2 – Add domains
Now that you have a NextDNS account, it’s time to add your domains. You can do this by clicking on the Domains tab and then clicking Add Domain. Enter your domain name and click Add Domain. Once your domain has been added, you’ll be able to see all of the available settings. If you need help understanding what each setting does, there is a description for each one at the bottom of the page.
For now, let’s go ahead and make some changes to how we want our email alerts to work. Under ‘Notifications’, click the edit icon next to Email Address and enter your email address. Click Save and then scroll down until you find ‘Email Notification Settings’. Under ‘Domain Verification Alerts’, change Do not notify to Send me an alert. Under ‘DNS Change Alerts’, change Do not notify to Send me an alert.
Step 3 – Set up your new name servers
Now that you have a plan and you know what you want your new name servers to be, it’s time to set them up. You can do this by logging into your account at your DNS provider and changing the name server records for your domain. If you’re not sure how to log in or where your domain is registered, contact your hosting company or domain registrar.
Changing from one DNS provider to another can be tricky because some providers will automatically try to redirect all of their customers’ domains over to their new name servers after they change theirs. To avoid this, you’ll need to make sure that any DNS changes are submitted individually.
To submit a request for your domain to point towards the new name servers with our partner provider Route 53, use the following command: ‘route53 txt CNAME _cname._domainkey.’ After waiting about 24 hours for the update to propagate (which usually happens pretty quickly), check if everything went through by running the same command again using dig or nslookup on your computer’s terminal.
Step 4 – Change name servers on all domains
If you manage your own domain, you can delegate it to use NextDNS’s name servers by changing the name server (NS) records at your registrar. To do this, you’ll need to generate a unique set of NS records for your account on the NextDNS site and then update your registrar settings with those values. You will not be able to edit your old NS records or add new ones that reference NextDNS because they are no longer listed in the zone file.
Step 5 – Test everything works correctly
Now that you’ve made all of your changes, it’s time to test that everything is working correctly. To do this, you’ll need to flush your DNS cache. This will clear any stored DNS information on your computer and allow it to fetch the new information from the servers. Open a Command Prompt window (run as administrator) and type ipconfig /flushdns. Restart your browser. If things are still not going right, restart your modem or router. If they’re still not working, try changing which server you’re connecting to using our client tools (or by editing the resolver configuration file).