Nameservers are a crucial part of the Domain Name System (DNS) that links the internet together. The DNS is like a phone book that allows your computer to look up the IP address of other computers, usually web servers. When you type the address "www.google.com" into your web browser, your computer uses nameservers to look up the IP address of the Google web server. Once your web browser has the IP address, it can contact the server and ask for the web page. Nameservers let the rest of the world know where to look for a website or deliver a domain's email.

Because the nameservers on a domain hold and serve the DNS records for the domain, changing a domain's nameservers will disconnect the domain from its website or email service. These records must be added to the new nameservers for any services relying on the domain name to keep working. The order that nameservers are displayed at Enom or in a Whois lookup does not affect how they operate.

• Updating nameservers
• Checking current nameservers
• Managing custom nameservers
  • Registering new nameservers
  • Checking nameserver status and IP
  • Updating nameserver IPs
  • Deleting nameservers
• Understanding DNS propagation
• Default Enom nameservers

Updating nameservers

Nameservers can be changed in an Enom account or through the access.enom.com portal if a domain access password has been set up. Before making the change, make sure you've copied over the host records from the current nameservers to keep your website or email service active.
Note: Nameserver changes typically take 24 to 48 hours to take effect due to propagation delays. 

1. Log in to your account.
2. Select Domains at the top of the website, then choose My domains from the dropdown.
   
3. Click the domain name text, not the checkbox next to it.
   
4. Select DNS server settings, or choose DNS server settings from the Manage domain dropdown.
   
5. In DNS Server Settings, choose either Our servers or Custom to use third-party nameservers.
   Important: If you would like to manage your domain's host records at Enom, choose Our servers. If you select Custom, you will need to manage the host records at the third-party provider.
   

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Checking current nameservers

It is best to use the registry Whois lookup to find a domain's nameservers, as this is the authoritative source for the TLD. It is also possible to use a website like G Suite Toolbox Dig or digwebinterface.com to find the nameservers. Enter the naked domain name in the search. For example, for www.enomdomains.com, search enomdomains.com, we can see the nameservers for enomdomains.com are the default Enom nameservers.

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Managing custom nameservers

If you have the domain, enomdomains.com, registered at Enom and want to set up the nameservers ns1.enomdomains.com and ns2.enomdomains.com, you will need to create these nameservers with glue records. Glue records are IP addresses that allow domains to use themselves as authoritative nameservers.

Setting up nameservers based on your domain is an advanced step and unnecessary for most people. For most, changing the nameservers to the web host's nameservers or using Enom's default nameservers is sufficient. 

Note: Only IPv4 glue records are manageable within Enom accounts. If you need to use IPv6 addresses for your glue records, submit a verified support request with your IP addresses and custom nameservers.

Registering new nameservers

Before using a name server based on your registered domain, you must inform the registry of its name and IP by registering it. 

1. Sign in to your account.
2. Click Domains menu, then Advanced tools, then choose Register a name server.
   
3. Locate the section labelled Register a new name server.
4. Enter the new nameserver's hostname and IP into the fields.
5. Click Register name server.
   

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Checking nameserver status and IP

You can check the status of an existing name server for one of your domains using the below two steps: 

1. Sign in to your account.
2. Click Domains menu, then Advanced tools, then choose Register a name server.
   
3. Locate the section labelled Check the status of a name server.
4. Enter the name server's name and click Check name server.
   Note: Only a few TLDs, such as .COM and .NET will return the IP address as part of a status check.
   

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Updating nameserver IPs

Updating the IP address of an existing name server for one of your domains requires its name, the current IP, and the new IP.

1. Sign in to your account.
2. Click Domains menu, then Advanced tools, then choose Register a name server.
   
3. Locate the section labelled Update a name server.
4. Enter the name server's name, current IP, and new IP into the fields provided.
5. Click Update name server.
   

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Deleting nameservers

Where allowed by the registry, you can delete nameservers based on one of your domains. Most registries do not allow deleting a nameserver being used or recently used by a domain. This means that nameserver deletion does not commonly succeed. You may still take your nameserver out of operation by removing it from any attached domains. When out of operation long enough, registries will typically remove nameservers independently.

1. Sign in to your account.
2. Click Domains menu, then Advanced tools, then choose Register a name server.
   
3. Locate the section labelled Delete a name server.
4. Enter the name server's name, then click the Delete name server button.
   

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Understanding DNS propagation

The Domain Name System (DNS) is decentralized and globally distributed, so no company controls it. The propagation time is the period between updating a domain's nameservers or other records and every other server on the internet updating its cache of records related to the domain. This delay is typically 24 to 48 hours, but it can take much less or more time.

You may see the previous or new records active during propagation, as some DNS servers update their cache earlier than others. There is no way to speed up the propagation time, as it is entirely reliant on third-party servers, often your local ISP, updating their cache in a timely fashion. Enom's recommendation is an hourly cache update, but some ISPs may ignore this recommendation, which causes propagation to take longer.

If you do not see the change to your domain after an update, one option is to switch to a different network. For example, if you have been checking a site from your home network connection (via WiFi or ethernet), you may be able to use your phone to see the changes over the cellular data network (not WiFi). 

You can use sites like the DNS Checker to check how far the changes have propagated. 

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Default Enom nameservers

Enom provides free nameservers to use for domains registered at Enom. Choose "Our servers" in a domain's DNS server settings to have the domain use Enom's default nameservers.

dns1.name-services.com
dns2.name-services.com
dns3.name-services.com
dns4.name-services.com
dns5.name-services.com

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