DNS Management for Agencies

Setting up DNS for a single website

These steps cover a new domain use case but can also be used for existing domains. A new client that wants to delegate DNS management perhaps. In this case you would be skipping the first step.

Please note: if you’re migrating DNS for an existing website you need to add DNS records to the DNS host first. Fortunately, a number of providers have tools to automate this part.

Now, let’s look at more detailed information about key steps.

Point nameservers to a DNS host

Nameservers work in tandem with DNS records are two different things. Forbes’ analogy is a good one: if the DNS records are a catalog the nameservers are the library in which they are found.

When you register a domain name the nameservers are set automatically to point to their own service. For example:

• ns1.exampleregistrar.com
• ns2.exampleregistrar.com

Next, ask your client to change the nameservers to the ones of your DNS host. This is what the screen looks like in Google Domains.

If you’re using Cloudflare as the DNS host their nameservers will look something like this:

• bob.ns.cloudflare.com
• lola.ns.cloudflare.com

Please note: one ore more additional nameservers are used to ensure the domain name still works if the primary one fails.

Point the domain name to the hosting provider

This is when you start adding DNS records for a domain via your DNS host. Your client will not need to do anything from this point onwards.

For this step you’ll need to know the IP address of your hosting provider. If you’re using Convesio you can find these in the Domains screen of the dashboard. There are two, in fact, as Convesio ‘load balances’ website traffic to two different servers.

Add an A record for each:

If you want to add a redirect for the www version of the domain you’ll need to add a CNAME record.

Setting up email and other DNS records

DNS records are used to manage other domain related services.

The best example of this is email, which just like a website needs to be hosted on a server. WordPress hosting providers typically don’t offer email hosting and the recommendation here is for the client to use a reputable service like Google Mail or Microsoft Outlook.

There are quite a few types of DNS records, in fact – you can see the full list on Wikipedia, but you can get away by knowing just a handful of them. Here’s a list of the ones that you need to be aware of.

Once you’ve finished setting up DNS records, check that they are working properly. Visit the website you’ve set up DNS for and send some test emails. Bear in mind that changes to DNS need to propagate across the whole DNS system. You may have to wait a few hours to see changes take effect. Also, clear your browser’s cache before checking a website as you may be viewing a local version.

A note about SSL

Managing SSL is not strictly part of the DNS management process but a step in the setup and configuration of a website.  Once you have finished with DNS and everything is working as expected make sure you install SSL for the domain. This is usually a function offered by the hosting provider.

How to manage DNS for a portfolio of client websites

Now that you understand how DNS works and how to manage it for a single website let’s look at best practices to manage DNS for a portfolio of client websites. Let’s remind ourselves is what we’re aiming for:

• To establish a process to quickly and painlessly set up and manage DNS for a large number of client websites
• Ensure that your client remains the owner of the domain and that there is a process so that DNS management can be handed back over
• Monitoring and speedy issue resolution

1. Select a DNS host

This will be your control center to manage your entire portfolio of client websites.

The core functions you are looking for are:

• • Management of multiple domains

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• Client access (optionally)
• Good performance, security and redundancy
• A solid SLA and expert 24/7 support

Also, usability is important too. Sign up for a free trial and get a sense how quickly you can navigate and perform operations.

You should also check what associated services they offer so that you don’t have to sign up with another provider to access them. For example, uptime monitoring, analytics, DDoS protection and CDN options.

Here’s a short list of the more reputable DNS hosts.

• Cloudflare
• DNS Made Easy
• ClouDNS
• DNS Simple
• EasyDNS

2. Keep track of your assets & resources

There’s a lot of information to keep track of for each domain that you may also want to share with your client. This could be a simple spreadsheet or a database that is part of a client portal, the idea being that you’re sharing a ‘living document’ with your client. Keep track of:

• Domain name
• Registrar and contact details associated to the domain
• Domain expiry date
• DNS management tool
• DNS Records
• SSL cert details
• CDN and other associated services
• Internal email address to use for monitoring
• Names of people who have access to the information

It’s tempting to store passwords in this resource too but that wouldn’t be safe. Best use a password manager such as LastPass, Dashlane or 1 Password.

This is important too: you should have a process whereby access to platforms and documentation is updated once a resource is no longer involved.

3. Set up monitoring

There are a number of very good monitoring tools so do a little research to find what’s best for you. Have a look at Pingdom, Uptime Robot and Freshping.

If you’re managing a large portfolio of clients it’s worth having a strategy to capture and route communications and alerts to the right platform or person, allowing for prioritization too. The channels are typically email, SMS and a messaging platform such as Slack.

For email, you may want to create a forward formatted as [email protected] pointing to a generic [email protected] inbox. If you’re using a Help Desk system (and you should) or an alert management system like Opsgenie you can then route alerts to the right person or tool.

For example, you can set a downtime alert to email [email protected] that routes to a Help Desk platform that a) creates a high priority ticket assigned to a particular person or team and b) sends an Slack message to a #dnsmanagement channel so that key people are informed.

DNS as a Service

Managing DNS is both time consuming and interruptive — you will need to drop everything to fix an issue the moment you are alerted.

Good management practices will help you reduce this but you should also monetize the extra responsibilities. Here are some suggestions on how you can do this:

• Bundle in DNSaaS with your existing maintenance and support packages. Or offer it as an add-on
• Productize your WordPress hosting stack and factor DNS hosting in the pricing.
• Partner with a hosting provider and you can do the DNS work for you. You’ll be earning a fee for each website you refer

Conclusion

Hopefully this guide will have helped you understand how DNS works and navigate the intimidating world of DNS records.

For many agencies DNS is a bit like web hosting – a critical piece of the WordPress puzzle but often a distraction more than a value-add. But here’s the thing: clients feel the same way. So if you can help them take the pain away you will be doing them a great service.

Think of DNS management as an opportunity too. There is no reason why you shouldn’t be paid for you time managing DNS. Offer it as a service or bundle it in your retainer offer.