If you manage a website, you’ve almost certainly come across the term “nameserver” before. But what does it mean? In this article, we will explore what a nameserver is, what it does, and how to control your nameserver settings to make your website easy to find.
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It is possible to set up your own nameserver if you are reasonably technically competent, and it can provide an excellent way to keep you safe and preserve your privacy online. If you own your own domain, services like Google Cloud allow you to create and manage your own nameservers.
Private nameservers, like private DNS, give you DNS servers under your own domain name. You can also use your own computer as a resolver, a specific type of DNS server that resolves domain names into IP addresses.
For most users, however, using a nameserver provided by either a domain registrar or a web hosting company is perfectly fine. Having your own nameserver gives you more control over how DNS queries are handled and directed to your website.
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{
question: ‘Do nameservers affect website speed and performance?’,
answer: (
Having a site that loads as quickly as possible is key to both search engine optimization and user experience, so you want to ensure that the server you use doesn’t affect your website’s performance. However, different nameservers perform at different speeds, so choosing one with the shortest loading time possible is important.
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{
question: ‘How long does a nameserver change take?’,
answer: (
DNS propagation is the term used to describe how long it takes for ISP nodes around the world to recognize changes to your site. This process will vary from one ISP to the next, but you can expect any changes to your name server to take 24 to 48 hours to propagate throughout the internet.
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{
question: ‘What is the difference between a DNS zone and a nameserver?’,
answer: (
Basically, a DNS zone is a portion of the DNS namespace that contains actual DNS records and allows more specific control over DNS settings. A nameserver is a server that stores and answers queries about those DNS records. In other words, a nameserver stores information about a DNS zone or even several DNS zones.
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The post Nameservers: What are they, and what are they used for? first appeared on NordVPN.