Host and manage DNS for a domain

DNS lists the domains in the selected Personal or team context. DNS hosting is included in every plan. Viewing a team's domains requires access to that team, and changing its DNS requires a team admin. Each domain in the list says where its DNS is, whether Mail uses it, and how many pages are connected at addresses under it.

DNS and Mail share each domain. Adding a domain that already belongs to Mail opens its existing setup. Adding it in DNS does not turn on Mail or require a Mail plan.

Add a domain

Choose Add domain, enter a domain such as example.com, and add it to the selected team. On its page, choose Host DNS with Magpie or Keep my current DNS provider.

With Keep my current DNS provider, the domain's DNS stays where it is. Under Verify ownership, add the TXT record shown at the current DNS provider and choose Check verification. The record's value is shown once; choose Make a new verification record to see a value again. If Mail uses the domain, its required records are listed on the domain's Mail page; see Connect your own domain to Mail.

Move DNS to Magpie

After Host DNS with Magpie, the domain's page lists its records and shows the two Nameservers to set at the registrar. Nothing changes for the domain until its nameservers change. Get started above the records lists what to do, with a button for each and Done when it is; Hide takes it away.

Fill in the records in either way, or both:

• Import current records imports the domain's records from its current DNS provider. Nothing is imported until you choose it, and Skip takes the step out of Get started. Magpie first asks the provider for the complete list (a zone transfer). Most providers refuse, so Magpie then looks up common names, names found in public certificate logs, and names that other records point to. A wildcard record, such as *._domainkey, is imported once, not once for every name it answers. An import can take a few minutes, and the list updates when it finishes.
• Add record adds a record by hand, also while an import runs.

A record you added wins over an imported one with the same name and type: if you already added an A record for the domain, the old provider's A record for it is left out. TXT records are the exception, since one name often has several for different services; only a second SPF record is left out. The page says how many imported records were left out.

Stop importing stops an import and removes the records it brought in. Remove imported records removes every imported record you have not edited, and Undo in the message puts them back. Import again replaces the imported records. Records you added or edited stay in each case.

An import cannot find every record. Compare the list with the complete list at your current provider, including uncommon and private names, and add any record the page says could not be read.

Then change the nameservers at your registrar to the two shown, and remove the old ones. After this change, Magpie publishes exactly the records in the list, and a record missing from it stops working, which can stop your website, email or subdomains. If the nameservers change while the list is empty, Magpie imports the domain's records first, so its names keep working.

To keep the domain at its current provider instead, choose Keep current DNS provider in the domain's More menu while setting up. The records filled in for it are deleted, and nothing changes at the provider.

If DNSSEC is on for the domain, turn it off at the registrar (remove its DS record) before switching. Magpie does not sign hosted zones.

The zone waits until the domain's registry lists the assigned Magpie pair. Magpie checks for the change automatically, and Check nameservers checks immediately. Creating a zone in Magpie does not mean its nameservers are active.

When the nameserver change is not found

While the zone waits, the page shows the nameservers the registry lists now.

• The registry still lists the old nameservers: the change has not been saved at the registrar, or the registry has not published it yet. Magpie keeps checking.
• The list includes a Magpie nameserver and others: the domain must use exactly the two shown, with no others.
• The page says the domain is not registered: register it, then change its nameservers.
• The page says Magpie stopped checking: choose Check nameservers after changing the nameservers, and Magpie checks again.

After hosting starts, a warning appears if the registry no longer lists the assigned Magpie nameservers. Check the nameservers at the registrar before changing records.

Add or change records

Choose Add record beside the domain's name. Select a type, enter its name and values, and save. Add and add another saves it and opens a new one with the same type and TTL. Supported types are A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, TXT, CAA, SRV, and NS for delegated subdomains.

Paste each part the way the service that asked for the record gives it:

• A name works with or without the domain, and with or without a dot at the end: mx, mx.example.com and mx.example.com. are the same record. The line under Name shows the full name it will be saved as.

• Pasting a whole record line into Name, such as mx 3600 IN MX 10 mail.example.net., fills in every field.

• A TXT value works with or without its quotes, and a value split into several quoted strings is joined. The line under it shows the value as it will be published, and the list shows every TXT value in its quotes.

• A mail server pasted with its priority, such as 10 aspmx.l.google.com, fills in the priority too.

• @, or an empty name, means the domain itself. www means www.example.com, and * is a wildcard.

• A and AAAA need an IPv4 or IPv6 address.

• CNAME needs a target hostname. It cannot share a name with other records or be used for the domain itself.

• MX needs a priority and mail-server hostname. Multiple MX records are allowed.

• TXT accepts the text itself, with or without quotes. Spaces and long strings are handled automatically.

• CAA has separate flags, tag, and value fields.

• SRV has separate priority, weight, port, and target fields. Use a service name such as _sip._tcp.

• NS hands a subdomain to other nameservers. Magpie manages the domain's own nameservers.

TTL is the time resolvers may cache the record. Choose Automatic (3,600 seconds), one of the preset times, or Custom to enter a number of seconds; the form shows how long each choice is and the range a custom TTL can have. Records with the same name and type share their shortest TTL.

Click a record's name, value or TTL to change it in place; it saves immediately. Edit (the pencil on a record's row) opens it in the same form as Add record, to change its type or several values together. Delete (the bin) deletes it at once, and Undo in the message puts it back. To delete several records, tick them and choose Delete above the list; Shift ticks every record between two. Once hosting is active, search records by name or value, or filter by type and by Yours or Set by Magpie.

Records Magpie keeps

The domain's nameservers and Mail's records are in the list with no Edit or Delete, because Magpie keeps them right. Mail's records change with its settings, on the domain's Mail page (Mail settings under Connected services). An existing SPF record keeps its other entries while Mail adds its include. You can edit the original SPF text; Mail's include is added when it is published.

Enable Mail, under Connected services, turns on Mail for the same domain and needs the plan Mail requires. Magpie creates the required DNS records automatically. If the domain already receives mail elsewhere, its existing MX records remain until you create the mailboxes and choose Move mail to Magpie. Messages stored at the previous provider are not copied.

A record another area set up, such as a Store or website at an address under the domain, has one button: Take over. It asks first, because Magpie then stops updating the record, and a change to it can stop that address working. After that the record is yours to edit or delete. An area cannot replace a record you manage without asking you.

Connected services on the domain's page lists Mail and every Store, website or Link-In-Bio List at an address under the domain. The Mail row says what Mail is doing: receiving mail at Magpie with the number of mailboxes, how many of its Mail records are found, mail at another provider with its MX hosts, or not enabled. Each address says which page it shows and whether it is Live, Not live yet (with how many of its steps are done) or has a Problem found, and links to its Custom domain page. A www address connected beside a whole domain says it sends visitors to the domain. The same words are on the domain's Mail page and on each Custom domain page. Disconnecting an address there removes the records Magpie added for it; records you added stay.

Publication and history

Publication shows whether the latest zone has been accepted by Magpie's DNS servers. A failed or pending publication stays visible; Magpie retries automatically, and Check again retries now.

History lists record changes with their previous and new values, who changed them, imports, and hosting events, newest first. Earlier changes shows older ones.

Download the zone file and move away

Download zone file exports the configured records, including Mail's generated records, as a standard zone file. The destination provider creates its own SOA record.

To move DNS elsewhere, copy the records to the new provider and change the nameservers at the registrar. Stop hosting DNS succeeds only after the registry lists no Magpie nameservers. The zone stays stored for export and recovery; Resume Magpie DNS reuses it and waits for the nameservers again.

Moving nameservers does not remove a domain from the team. Remove domain, in the domain's More menu, also removes its saved zone and history. A domain that Mail uses is removed from Mail settings after its addresses are removed. A domain with a Store, website or Link-In-Bio List at an address under it cannot be removed; the More menu opens that page's Custom domain page to disconnect it first.

DNS does not register, renew or transfer domains, redirect web addresses, or manage website certificates.

For help with nameservers, records, or publication, Contact support.