DNS - View / Change Host Records - Forward, Redirect, or Point Your Domain/Sub-Domain

Modified on Mon, 19 Aug at 6:07 PM

Question: How do I forward, redirect or point my domain or sub-domain?



Also see the HelpDesk article: About DNS Server Settings (nameservers) and Host Records (DNS zone files) 

If you are using our nameservers, you can forward, redirect or point your domain by following the below steps:

  • Login to your account.
  • Select the menu option Domains > My Domains  (or from the main account overview page, go to "Registered Domains").
  • Click on a domain name, (you can search for a domain name using the search bar at the top of the list).
  • Click on "Host Records(from the Domain Overview page, or in the "Manage Domain" drop-down menu). If the domain is not using our DNS, it will come up with a message saying: "The DNS/Zone information on this page will have no effect because your nameservers need to be set to use our nameservers. Our name servers can be set in the 'DNS Server Settings' under 'Manage Domain' drop down. In this case, to change the DNS, see the article: "How to change domain nameservers (DNS)".
  • Add / edit / manage Host Records as needed (definitions and formats can be seen below).
  • If you made any changes to the Host Records, click "Save".



Host Records are displayed in the following format (examples of such):


Host NameRecord TypeAddress
wwwA (Address)98.124.198.1
@A (Address)98.124.198.1
*A (Address)98.124.198.1



There are three Host Names that you should configure for your main website:

  • WWW: Points www.example.com to the address specified.
  • @ (none): Points the domain with no www. (e.g., if you typed example.com instead of www.example.com).
  • * (all others): Points [anything].example.com to the address specified (e.g., uuu.domain.com or website.domain.com).

Note: The "Host Name" of a Host Record is what will appear before the website name. So a Host Name will read like this, [Host Name].example.com.



These are the different Record Types:
  • A (Address): Points the host name to an IPv4 address (such as 192.168.0.1).
  • AAAA (Address): Points the host name to an IPv6 address (such as 3ffe:1900:4545:0003:0200:f8ff:fe21:67cf).
  • CNAME (Alias): Points the host name to another hostname (such as example.com).
  • URL Forward (Redirect): Forwards the host name directly to the website specified (such as example.com). (Create a 301 redirect for permanent forwards - refer to How to Create a 301 Redirect on a Domain)
  • URL Frame: Forwards the host name to the website specified (such as example.com), but keeps your domain in the address bar.
  • TXT (text): Used to set a text host record, such as an SPF record (such as v=spf1 ip4:69.26.182.242 ip4:69.26.182.10 ip4:209.67.128.0/23 ip4:74.202.139.0/24 ip4:74.202.142.0/24 ip4:74.202.15.0/24 ip4:64.191.223.0/24 ip4:65.74.168.0/24 ip4:216.163.188.0/24 mx -all)

    (see How to Add SPF or TXT Records on Domains).


Note: There is a default limit of 15 Host Records (sub-domains) for each domain. You can contact us to request extra host records be added to your domain. Just let us know approximately how many more you need. There is generally a limit of 100 host records (sub-domains) per domain.



Custom sub-domains (Host Names) can also be set through this interface

For example, if you wanted to set up the sub-domain mail.example.com to point to the IP address 192.168.0.1, you would enter it as follows:

Host NameRecord TypeAddress
mailA (Address)192.168.0.1
anythingyouwantURL Forwardexample.com


You may have to click the "New Row" button to set additional host records.


Note: In our interface, in the Host Name field, only type the Host Name itself. When managing the Host Names from our interface, do not include the dot / period at the end of the Host Name, and do not include the domain name (those will automatically be added



Tips for deciding which type of URL forwarding to use ("URL Fame" or "URL Redirect"):

If you want your domain name to stay in the address bar of the browser use URL Frame.  This hides the true address of the website to which your domain is forwarding (e.g., if you're forwarding www.example.com to http://www.example.org/www/images/website the address that will appear in the browser would be http://www.example.com).

 Note: When the user clicks on a link, the URL frame will usually be kept in the address bar.  Sometimes if you are forwarding your website in a frame it may cause problems with navigation or the scripting on a website.
Note: URL Frame does not support SSL (https).

If you simply want your domain to point to a different website, use URL Redirect.  This forwards the domain to the other website and the domain you are forwarding will not appear in the address bar. This may be useful if you have a main company domain, and have a few other domains that you want to point to the main domain. You can use a regular URL Redirect, or a Permanent 301 Redirect (See article: How to Create a 301 Redirect on a Domain).

If you are unsure you can always try both and see what suits you best.




What is TTL (Time To Live)

TTL stands for Time to Live and is counted in seconds.  It is set by an authoritative name server which tells non-authoritative servers how long to cache records.  Our DNS servers have a default TTL of 3600 seconds.  This means that other DNS servers are instructed not to query our name server more frequently than every 3600 seconds or 1 hour for new DNS updates.

A certain TTL can be requested by creating a HelpDesk ticket or contacting us via email. Make sure to include the domain name in question as the new TTL requested. 


Note that the TTL is reset back to 3600 after changes are made to the host records.





Note: Due to the limitation of our Host Records maximum length, we only support up to 1024 bit DomainKeys, and TXT records up to 255 characters in length. It is possible to input longer DKIM's and TXT records while still using our DNS servers, by using services such as "ClouDNS". If you have questions on how exactly to add longer DomainKeys, let us know, and we'll be glad to help.





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