I don’t understand what this means. Netlify allows me to add preexisting DNS records for email, etc. when setting up Netlify DNS
Hi, @Ethicli. Laura is recommending that, if people are not confident copying their existing DNS configuration, they use the external DNS instructions instead.
Why? Because many people forget to manually copy their DNS records from their existing DNS service to Netlify DNS when they activate it. The issue is so frequent that we created a support guide to explain the issue and how to fix it here:
So, yes, you can manually transfer your existing DNS configuration. Laura’s recommendation is for people that are unsure about manually transferring those DNS records.
If there are other questions, please let us know.
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I currently have DNS hosted at another hosting provider. I am considering moving the records over to Netlify including MX, that’s fine. The Netlify site will use the apex domain but we also have a blog on the existing domain as a subdomain. Would there be an issue to point to the blog on a subdomain if it’s on another server and if not, should it be an A record to point to the server IP it’s currently on? If a subdomain and we use a CNAME, we would need a different domain root name wouln’t we? Just trying to decide if to keep DNS where it is external to Netlify or move it over.
The only problem with pointing a subdomain out of Netlify is that Netlify won’t be able to serve a SSL certificate for that. So if you can get a SSL certificate for your subdomain, then I believe you’d not have any other issue.
I am relatively new to Netlify (but LOVE next.js) and wanted to migrate my site over to netlify.
I used a personal domain for testing and it worked great (synced with github and auto deploy, yay!)
HOWEVER, I was setting up an external domain, because I have a lot of custom dns records and simply wanted to keep it where it was. I set it up but the SSL cert said it will take up to 24 hours for it to propagate.
Is there a way to migrate to netlify with SSL without a production outage?
I’m guessing the only way is to bring my own cert. I do love the let’s encrypt wildcard feature though. 
Hi hrishikesh,
Thanks for the reply. Another user just mentioned it is against the terms of service to use NEtlify DNS to point to another site (even as a subdomain?). Am confused between the responses.
Also would it be best to use a CNAME record to point to a subdomain on another hosting service, even if it uses the same root domain as the one on Netlify (for instance blog.example), or is it best to add an A record in the NEtlify DNS and point to a specific server IP instead?
MAny thanks.
Marc
Yes, that would be correct if you’re not using Netlify DNS to point your root domain to a Netlify website and using Netlify DNS only to manage the DNS.
For example, if you have example.com using Netlify DNS, and example.com is connected to a Netlify website, that’s fine. You can have any other subdomains pointing elsewhere, we don’t mind.
But, if you’ve configured Netlify DNS for example.com and are only using Netlify DNS to create subdomains and point them elsewhere, that would not be acceptable.
About the second question, it’s up to you. If you can get away with only a CNAME or a A record, feel free to use just one of them. But if you need both the records, you should add it. it depends on how the destination is requiring it.
Actually my original scenario was using NetlifyDNS for the root domain website like example.com which is hosted on Netlify, but using Netlify DNS to also point a subdomain blog.example.com which would sit on another hosting provider (it is built in WordPress). If I used a CNAME to do that, it needs to use a URL but would that be a problem if the destination was blog.example.com while example.com root is set up on Netllify? Or would an A record pointing to a server IP be better in terms of resolving the root domain (on Netlify) and its subdomains (if one is on another server)?
Regards,
Marc
Well, that sounds like incorrect DNS setup.
If example.com is being hosted on Netlify and you create a CNAME record for blog.example.com and value as example.com, it will resolve back to Netlify and since that domain is not mapped to any Netlify website, it would return a not found error.
Your WordPress installation should probably have a different URL to which you could point the CNAME entry. If you don’t have that, you could definitely use A record as long as you have an IP address. There should not be much of a performance difference to compare here, both configurations are okay.
Yes, agree it would bounce back to Netlify. Currently, I have DNS hosted at my hosting provider for the root domain and it has a subdomain for the blog.example.com hosted there on WP while the main site is built on Netlify. We will point example.com at the Netlify site and was weighing up whether to do this from Netlify DNS and how to then point a subdomain blog.example.com out to the current WP site. I know the general server IP, but not sure how it gets resolved to that WP at a local level. If I create a CNAME in the Netlify DNS to point blog.example.com to the WP site, it sounds like I will have to chance the domain it is on now to a different one, to avoid the DNS issues, won’t I?
If instead I keep the DNS where it is and add an A record and CNAME to the Netlify site, instead, how does Netlify resolve the A record pointed to it to the Netlify site? I did add a DNS Zone in Netlify with the custom domain to see the setup, but I guess I need to remove it to see how the Netlify site maps from the standard IP to the right Netlify site name?
Again, just trying to weigh up the two options for where DNS is hosted and what the actions would need to be.
Regards,
Marc Goblot
The way domains resolve at Netlify is as follows:
User enters example.com in browser → DNS lookup gives browser the server’s IP Address (in this case, Netlify’s) → browser contacts Netlify to serve that domain → Netlify receives the request and maps the requested domain to the database to see which site the domain is connected to → if match found, Netlify serves the website, if match not found, Netlify serves the not found page.
In your case, it absolutely is your decision on what kind of a configuration you’re looking for. Both would work fine, both have their pros and cons. In short, if you’re going to host a lot of subdomains on that domain on Netlify, then Netlify DNS might be a better choice as the DNS would be managed automatically. If not, the choice you make won’t have a huge impact.