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Need to change the domain name servers (aka DNS servers) for a registered domain? This lesson will show you how.

If you are using third party web hosting services your web host provider may instruct you to change your name servers.

Please note that in order to use Hover services such as domain forwarding, Hovers, and email, your name servers need to be pointed at Hover's name servers: ns1.hover.com and ns2.hover.com. Alternatively, you can manually edit DNS records to point to Hover services, such as email. Instructions on how to use separate providers for hosting and email can be found at this URL: http://about.hover.com/customhosts

To begin, log into your Hover account online at: https://www.hover.com/login

Select the List of Domains tab then click on the domain name whose name servers need to be changed.

Select the Manage Domain tab then click on Name Servers.

If your domain is locked, click on domain settings.

Scroll down to the bottom of the Registry Records and change the Lock Status to Unlocked. Click Save.

Go back into Name Servers and type in the new name servers for your domain name.

Click Add Nameserver if you need to enter more server addresses. Leave any extra name server text fields blank if there are more name server text boxes listed than you need.

Click Save when finished.

"Your name servers have been updated" is displayed to confirm that the changes were saved.

Please note that changes to your name servers may take up to 48 hours to propagate to all Internet Service Providers.

Click Registry Records then scroll down and set your domain status back to Locked. Click Save.

Warning! Avoid Circular Nameservers on .COM/.NET Domains!

VeriSign, the company that runs the .COM and .NET domain extensions, is disallowing cyclic name server configuration as of March 1, 2010.

Circular nameservers occurs when the name servers for a domain are based off another domain that has its name servers pointed back at the first domain.

In the example above, sirrobin.net is pointed at name servers from sirrobinranaway.com, and sirrobinranaway.com is pointed at name servers from sirrobin.net. This causes a circular reference which VeriSign will not allow. It is technically possible to use a cyclic configuration with other top level domains, such as .org and .us, but it is generally considered less secure. VeriSign is making these changes as a pre-requisite for deploying DNS Security Extensions (DNSSEC http://www.dnssec.net) in 2010.

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Article Shortcut: http://about.hover.com/changeNS

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