Help Documentation

Creating NS Records

Updated on

Only create the required NS records for your delegated subdomain; all other DNS records are created by iPost, including A, MX, and TXT records for SPF, DKIM, DomainKeys, and DMARC.

For Registar Control Panels Such As GoDaddy

  1. Choose the parent domain (e.g.“websitename.com”) and click Edit or Manage DNS.
  2. Select Add or Create New Record.
  3. For Type, select NS.
  4. For Host, type in the subdomain name (e.g., for news.rootdomain.com, use 'news').
  5. For Value, enter dns01.ipost.com
  6. For TTL (Time To Live) - this is the amount of time the server should cache information before refreshing - the default is 1 hour or 3600.
  7. Click Save.
  8. Repeat steps 2-6 using dns01.smf.ipost.com as the Value.
  9. Click Save.
  10. There should now be two NS records under your root domain's DNS control panel.

For more information on your specific registar's process, see our section regarding provider-specific instructions.

For UNIX-based Systems

Using the BIND name server software, you would add the following records to the example.com zone file (do NOT create a new zone file for news.example.com itself):

news IN NS dns01.ipost.com.
news IN NS dns01.smf.ipost.com.
Click to copy
  • The trailing periods on dns01.ipost.com. and dns01.smf.ipost.com.com. are significant. “Glue records” are unnecessary in this setup because the nameservers for the subdomain do not reside within the DNS namespace of the subdomain itself.
  • When updating a zone file, including adding new records, you must be sure to update the Serial Number in the SOA record that controls the zone. If you don’t know what this means, get help from your IT professional.

For Administering DNS Under Windows

  1. Go into in the DNS management console.
  2. Right click on the parent zone (i.e. example.com).
  3. Select New Delegation.
  4. Follow the wizard instructions to create a delegation for “news” using these name servers:
dns01.ipost.com 64.84.6.50 
dns01.smf.ipost.com 204.94.81.2 
Click to copy

Provider-specific instructions

Amazon Route53
  1. Select Hosted Zones from the navigation pane on the left and select the Parent Hosted Zone.
  2. Choose Create Record, and enter the following information:
    • Name: type your preferred subdomain name. For example, if the subdomain you want to create is "info.example.com," type "info."
    • Type: select NS  Name Server.
    • TTL (Time To Live): this value is in seconds; the recommended value for this 3600 (1 hour) and up to 86400 (1 Day).
    • Value: Add each hostname in separate lines.
      • dns01.ipost.com
      • dns01.smf.ipost.com
  3. Leave all other values as their defaults.
  4. Choose Create Records to commit the record to the hosted zone.
Bluehost
  1. Log in to your Bluehost Account Manager.
  2. Click the Domains tab located in the left-side navigation menu.
  3. Scroll down to the Advanced Tools section.
  4. Click MANAGE next to Advanced DNS Records.
  5. Click the + ADD RECORD button.
  6. Fill in the required fields once the Add Advanced DNS Records pop-up appears. 
    • Record Type: NS
    • Refers to: type your preferred subdomain name. For example, if the subdomain you want to create is "info.example.com," type "info."
    • Points to: add the iPost hostname, dns01.ipost.com
    • TTL (time to live): It is recommended to use 3600 (1hr) to 14400 (4hrs). Value is listed in seconds.
  7. Click the ADD button to add the new record.
  8. Repeat for a second record.
    • Record Type: NS
    • Refers to: type your preferred subdomain name. For example, if the subdomain you want to create is "info.example.com," type "info."
    • Points to: add the iPost hostname, dns01.smf.ipost.com
    • TTL (time to live): It is recommended to use 3600 (1hr) to 14400 (4hrs). Value is listed in seconds.
  9. Click the ADD button to add the new record.
Cloudflare
  1. Log in to your Cloudflare dashboard and select your account and domain.
  2. Go to DNS > Records.
  3. Click Add Record.
  4. Fill in the corresponding information to create the record:
    • Choose NS as your record type.
    • Name: type your preferred subdomain name. For example, if the subdomain you want to create is "info.example.com," type "info."
    • Content: dns01.ipost.com
    • TTL (time to live): Leave as default setting.
  5. Click Add Record.
  6. Repeat these steps to add the second NS record.
    • Choose NS as your record type.
    • Name: type your preferred subdomain name. For example, if the subdomain you want to create is "info.example.com," type "info."
    • Content: dns01.smf.ipost.com
    • TTL (time to live): Leave as default setting.
  7. Click Add Record.
GoDaddy
  1. Sign in to your GoDaddy Domain Portfolio.
  2. Select Domain Manage DNS.
  3. Select Add New Record.
  4. Select NS from the Type menu.
  5. Enter the details for your new subdomain records:
    • Name: type your preferred subdomain name. For example, if the subdomain you want to create is "info.example.com," type "info."
    • Value: dns01.ipost.com
    • TTL (Time to Live): The amount of time the server should cache information before refreshing. The default setting is 1 hour.
  6. Select Add More Records:
    • Name: Enter the same name as used above.
    • Value: dns01.smf.ipost.com
    • TTL (Time to Live): The amount of time the server should cache information before refreshing. The default setting is 1 hour.
  7. Select Save to add your new record. If you added multiple records simultaneously, select Save All Records.

Most DNS changes take effect within an hour but could take up to 48 hours to update globally.

NameCheap
  1. Go to your Domain List and click Manage next to the domain.
  2. Select the Advanced DNS tab.
  3. Find the Host Records section and click on the Add New Record button.
    • Select NS Record for Type.
    • Host: type your preferred subdomain name. For example, if the subdomain you want to create is "info.example.com," type "info."
    • Value: dns01.ipost.com
    • TTL (Time to Live): Automatic
  4. Click Add New Record and repeat for the second record:
    • Select NS Record for Type.
    • Host: type your preferred subdomain name. For example, if the subdomain you want to create is "info.example.com," type "info."
    • Value: dns01.smf.ipost.com
    • TTL (Time to Live): Automatic
  5. Check the Save All Changes button once done.

Normally, it takes 30 minutes for newly created records to take effect.

Network Solutions
  1. Log into your Account Manager.
  2. Select Domain Name on the left side of the page.
  3. On the Domain page, go down to the Advanced Tools section.
  4. Click Manage next to Advanced DNS Records.
  5. Select +Add Record. A new window will open.
  6. Add the following values:
    • Type: NS
    • Subdomain: type your preferred subdomain name. For example, if the subdomain you want to create is "info.example.com," type "info."
    • Nameserver: dns01.ipost.com
    • TTY (Time to Live): Default is 7200 (2hrs).
  7. Repeat these steps to add the second iPost Record. 
    • Type: NS
    • Subdomain: type your preferred subdomain name. For example, if the subdomain you want to create is "info.example.com," type "info."
    • Nameserver: dns01.smf.ipost.com
    • TTY (Time to Live): Default is 7200 (2hrs).
  8. Click the Add button.

Most DNS changes take effect within an hour but could take up to 48 hours to update globally

What to do if NS records cannot be created

In the event that delegation records cannot be created for technical or policy reasons (e.g., Squarespace and Wix do not allow delegating NS records), the subdomain can be created as a CNAME (canonical name) record instead. Read on for more information regarding CNAME records and the extra steps involved in this process.

Previous Article Identifying the Parent Domain
Next Article Using a CNAME