Assuming you have a VPS server from a reliable provider like Contabo, and on the other hand, you have a registered domain from another provider like Namecheap, Godaddy, HostGator, or any other domain name vendor. What you need is to be able to point the domain name you purchased from a certain domain registrar to your VPS server IP address you purchased from your preferred VPS provider.
In this article, we would like to show you a step-by-step process on how to point your domain name to an IP address of the VPS server:
What is a domain name and how does it work?
If you’re a techie, this question would sound obvious and unsophisticated. But on this site, we always strive to break down complex stuff on tech topics to help beginners understand in detail everything they need to know. For now, if you know the answer, please bear with us as we need to help the other group that still doesn’t know what a domain name means and how it works.
Ok, let’s start 🙂
Imagine you want to visit a specific website, like “www.ugacomp.com.” A domain name is the address of that website on the internet. It’s a unique name that helps people find and access websites easily. Think of a domain name as the online equivalent of a physical address. Just as your home has a street address to locate it, a website has a domain name to identify it on the internet.
Domain names are bought from domain registrars or domain vendors. There are thousands of domain registrars and vendors out there, and the choice is always in your hands to buy from the one that offers the best domain deal. This means a great initial purchase price for the first year and a great renewal price for the following years.
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The relationship between Domain Names and IP addresses
It’s important to note that domain names and IP addresses are two separate things but form a crucial relationship in facilitating the functioning of the web.
When you register a domain name, it is initially not associated with any specific website or server. And so domain name pointing allows you to link your domain name with the web server where your website is hosted. In other words, a domain name is pointed to a specific IP address belonging to the VPS that has a web hosting server.
Every website or web application that has a domain name also has an IP address behind it. Domain names are designed to be more intuitive and easier to remember for humans. They are typically composed of words or phrases that reflect the purpose or identity of a website or service. In contrast, IP addresses are numerical sequences that are not inherently meaningful to people.
When your visitors browse your website using the domain name, a process known as DNS Resolution plays a crucial role. This process translates domain names (such as ugacomp.com into their corresponding IP addresses such as 192.0.2.1. This IP address allows your browser to connect to the website’s server and retrieve its content, which is then displayed for you to interact with.
DNS Resolution is part of the Domain Name System (DNS), which is a hierarchical decentralized naming system that allows computers and other devices to communicate over the internet using human-readable domain names instead of numerical IP addresses.
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What is Domain Name Pointing?
Domain Name pointing is the process of directing a domain name to a specific IP address of a server. This process allows you to link your domain name with the web server where your website or application is hosted. Whenever you buy a VPS server, it will also be assigned a public IP address. This IP address is important in accessing the server through SSH or using it to host your web application on the internet.
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As we’ve said earlier, you can have a registered domain name but not associated with a specific website or server. But assuming you have a domain name registered from a certain domain Registrar like Namecheap, Godaddy, HostGator, or Cloudflare, and you also have a VPS server from a certain provider like Contabo or any other VPS provider of your choice, this means that you will have to point your domain name from that domain Registrar to a VPS server bought from your preferred vendor.
How to Point a Domain Name to an IP Address
Pointing your domain name from one registrar to an IP address belonging to a different VPS provider involves a couple of steps you need to know;
Create the appropriate DNS Records
In your VPS dashboard, you need to find your DNS management settings so you can add your domain name registered from another provider. In this example, we’re assuming that our domain name, ugacomp.com is registered from Namecheap, and we would like to point it to a VPS server from Contabo. This means that we will have to log into the Contabo VPS Dashboard as shown in the image below;
In the Contabo dashboard, we need to scroll down and click on DNS Management Zone settings as shown below;
Once you click on the DNS Zone Management settings, you need to type in your domain name and also select the Target IP address of the server you want to associate with it. See the image below;
Make sure you click Create Zone so appropriate Records are created for you as shown in the image below;
Once you’ve created the DNS Zone in Contabo, you will have to copy the Contabo nameservers. By default, Contabo offers the following Nameservers you can use in your appropriate domain Registrar account;
- ns1.contabo.net
- ns2.contabo.net
- ns3.contabo.net
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Add Nameservers
Usually, nameservers are provided by your VPS server provider and you’re supposed to add them to your Domain Name registrar account under the custom Nameserver or DNS settings of your domain.
If you have a domain name registered with Namecheap, and you have a VPS server purchased from Contabo, this means that you will need to get the Contabo nameservers and add them to Namecheap DNS settings. So, you will have to log into your Namecheap account and find your purchased domain name. Then, you need to click on manage as shown in the image below;
After you’ve clicked on manage, you will be redirected to the next page. On this page, you need to scroll down to the nameservers section as seen in the image below;
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You need to click on the dropdown button and then click Custom DNS as shown in the image below;
You can now insert the nameservers provided by your VPS hosting provider. In this example, we’re using Contabo’s nameservers for the VPS, but you can include the nameservers of your preferred VPS provider as shown in the image below;
Once you’ve inserted the nameservers, please remember to save the settings.
Please note that after adding your domain name from Namecheap and pointing it to a Contabo VPS server IP address, it may take up to 48 hours to complete the propagation process. But in most cases, the domain propagation process can occur in a few minutes, a few hours, or up to 48 hours. You can always use the DNS propagation monitoring tools to help you understand if the DNS changes have been completed to provision.
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