If you run a small to medium business you probably have a website, for example, www.something.com. If your company is going for a more polished look maybe you have a personalized web and email space, somebody@something.com and www.somebody.com.
So, how does all this work? Well, that is where DNS, Domain Name System, comes up. I’m not going too deep into the weeds with the tech explanations. If you want to read more go to this site https://computer.howstuffworks.com/dns.htm. They do a good job explaining more about the processes.
Most people remember names better than a set of numbers. If you wanted to go to my website it is arnoldconsult.com, or you might be able to use the IP address of the website. What would you remember first?
How Does DNS Work?
DNS works like the post office. Mr. John lives at 115 Sunnydale Lane. The post office keeps a record of the name to the house address. When a company buys the something.com DNS name it is unique, and will have its own IP address for a website and mail just like Mr. John does with the post office.
Companies will spend a lot of money and time building an online persona with websites, advertising, email campaigns, and virtual shopping carts. If done correctly, they are very effective marketing tools. The website is like the silent sales guy always happy to answer a question for people browsing for your company’s services. The service that drives it all is DNS name to number addressing.
Now that I have done a basic setup of what DNS is, and its importance – Here comes the real-life story.
Case Study
A few years ago, I had a small printer that I was on-boarding as a new customer. They had a website that was out there for years, email addresses, and had a print order virtual cart where customers could place orders on line.
I was documenting their business. The last managed service provider (MSP) left no documentation, and I was moving on to documenting their DNS. Where is it hosted, what is the password, who does the mail…etc. The customer indicated the MSP has all this information, and I knew this was going to be an issue.
The old MSP had all this DNS info, and it was in a private account they held. In essence, they were reselling the DNS service, and when I asked for the DNS to be released—they did just that and stripped all information out of the account. The website references with name to IP address were gone for website, shopping cart, and mail. If my customer would have phone, his phone system would have been out as well.
This is known as losing control of the DNS. My customer trusted this person to act in his best interest. It is my understanding that when DNS is hosted in this way, the transfer may result in stripping the information in the account, but is that really in the best interest of the customer?
If your company needs help with DNS, Arnold Consulting is here. We can properly setup your DNS and point the records in the right direction. When we are done, we log out, and the work is complete. You still retain control of the DNS with your user name and password, and we show you how to change the password when we are done.