How To Setup Your DNS Server in GoDaddy Domain Registrar

Setting up a DNS server (with software like Bind) has two major components, the first being setting up the server itself and adding all the records. I will not delve into it as it has been discussed ad-nauseum on the net. After you have setup your DNS servers (say ns1.example.com and ns2.example.com), there remains the task of appointing your DNS server as the the DNS server for your domains. Sounds confusing? Well it is, so read on for details.

You may think that you have setup ns1.example.com to map to an IP address in your DNS record (A record to be precise). However how does an application find out:

1. What is name (like ns1.taragana.com) of the DNS server for example.com?
2. Which IP address does the DNS server name (like ns1.taragana.com) map to?

GoDaddy allows you to specify DNS server names (like ns1.example.com or ns2.example.com) for a domain which addresses the first concern.

However the solution to how does an application know which ip address to map DNS server name to is not intuitive. You need to setup the record in GoDaddy itself. The worst part is that GoDaddy makes it really hard to find out, even for a Pro. Here are the steps:

1. Log in to your GoDaddy Account Control Panel / Manager.
2. Log in to your GoDaddy Account Control Panel / Manager.
3. Click on the domain and then click on manage domain to manage the domain (example.com for example).
4. Look for Host Summary in the bottom left and click on Add.
5. In the Host name field add ns1 (for example) and then specify the IP address in Host IP 1.
6. Repeat the process for both DNS servers.
7. Now sit back and wait till the DNS propagation is completed, takes anywhere between few hours to upto 72 hours.

The worst part of GoDaddy experience is that they don’t provide any help on the options or any guides to help you through the process.