Manage Your Site
DNS and Zone Records
Primary and Secondary DNS (Domain Name Servers)
Every Internet Domain, i.e. yourdomain.com, should have at least two authoritative DNS servers (Primary and Secondary) as part of the domain record, which also includes the Domain Owner, Administrative, Technical and Business Contacts.
Naming your Primary and Secondary DNS servers
When you register your domain, you are asked to supply the names of the Primary and Secondary DNS servers. When you do that through Snap Hosting, they are provided by default: NS.XYNAPSE.CA and NS2.XYNAPSE.CA. » The role of DNS servers
The Administrative Contact can modify those through your Domain Registrar anytime. If you have chosen Snap Hosting as your Registrar (wise decision), the interface is conveniently located within your Snap Control Panel.
DNS Zone Records
When you create or add a domain through your Snap Hosting Control Panel, it is automatically added to NS.XYNAPSE.CA and NS2.XYNAPSE.CA.
By default, the "MX" (mail traffic) record is set to mail.xynapse.ca, and "A" records are created for yourdomain.com and www.yourdomain.com. In most circumstances, you will never need to modify these settings, but manual changes can easily be made through your Snap Hosting Control Panel.
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The Role of DNS Servers
DNS servers bridge the gap between human memory and network addresses. Computers traverse Internet locations by IP address. For example, "207.46.232.182" is one of the IP addresses for microsoft.com. "microsoft.com" is a lot easier for you and I to remember than... what was that number again? No worries, their IP address is stored by DNS servers which your computer references automatically and invisibly.
Here's how it works: When a user clicks on a link to your web site or types it into their browser, or sends you an email, her computer will seek the path to your domain's web site or email server. How does that happen? If your site is as well trafficked as, say amazon.com, the IP routing information will have been cached at your ISP's local DNS servers. If not, the routing request will be passed up the line until it reaches the TLD Registrar's database, which responds with the names of the Primary and Secondary DNS servers. They provide the IP address of your web site or mail server.
More on DNS Zone Records
DNS Zone Records that contain the specific IP address of your domain are stored within your Primary and Secondary DNS servers. New entries or updates are made to the Primary DNS server; the Secondary picks them up from the Primary.
Other DNS servers on the Internet pick up their routing information from either of these two and store that information temporarily. This is called DNS caching.