Centralized DNS for Faster, Safer and Easier Hosting
Table of Contents
Looking back 2 years ago at our promise to unleash a series of service enhancements after switching fully to Site Tools, we keep delivering! After launching the Ultrafast PHP, new MySQL setup on shared and cloud, SG Optimizer new features, and more, we have also reworked our DNS service to make it faster, safer, more flexible and easy to use than ever. Take a read at what we have done and how that affects your websites hosted on our platform.
What’s under the hood of our new DNS service
Let us first make a quick reminder – the DNS (domain name system) is what makes it possible for a domain name to open a specific website. This system indicates on which of all the servers in the whole internet your website is hosted. Usually, a specific set of 2 nameservers and 2 IPs correspond to each server and they should be added in your domain’s management panel for the system to work. Each server also has a DNS service installed on it that processes the DNS queries and shows the proper website when a visitor types your domain in the browser.
With our new centralized DNS setup we no longer need DNS service installed on each of our production servers that host your website. We are able to move all our DNS services to a completely separate cluster of multiple servers. This cluster is dedicated for DNS service only and is geographically dispersed around the globe thanks to the super cool Anycast network routing technology. Centralized DNS also allows us to have just one pair of nameservers and IPs for all the servers that SiteGround manages, and these are:
- ns1.siteground.net
- ns2.siteground.net
What are the benefits of our new DNS service
Faster Domain Resolving, Faster Website Loading
When a visitor searches for your website’s domain, the first thing that the browser does is make a DNS lookup to see on which IP the domain resolves and connects to the server with that IP. With the previous DNS setup lookup requests coming from a different continent from your server’s were handled a bit slower due to the physical distance between the visitor and the server resolving your domain. Now, with the centralized DNS which works on five different geographical locations and multiple instances, the resolving is handled by the closest node saving networking delays and improving your website loading speed.
Enhanced Redundancy
As the new DNS setup relies on multiple geographically dispersed machines, it is extremely resilient. For example if one of the DNS servers goes down, the DNS requests would be handled by the second closest point, which is up and running. This setup also guards against DDoS attacks, as if there is a high amount of malicious traffic, it will be distributed among multiple DNS machines and it becomes much more difficult for such an attack to succeed. On top of that the DNS service is super scalable, and new machines can be added easily whenever there is a need for more resources.
If you are using your domain simultaneously for your hosting at SiteGround and other services too (for example your MX records are pointed to Gmail), having the DNS service hosted on a different location from your website has one more advantage. In case your hosting server goes down, your DNS will still work and your outside services will still resolve without being affected.
Seamless Migrations Between Servers
It’s part of our job to move data around – whether we transfer your account from an old hardware to a newer one, from cPanel server setup to machines with Site Tools setup, or from an old data center to Google Cloud infrastructure, migrations are something that happen and will continue to happen. Every time we migrate servers, one of the biggest challenges is handling the DNS zones. The new server comes with new nameservers and once websites get transferred, the domains have to be pointed to use the new nameservers. We have been updating them automatically for all domains managed via our control panels, but external domains needed manual change by webmasters. In both cases, there would be DNS propagation with potential downtime impact. With the new Centralized DNS it will be much easier to migrate and perform server upgrades in the future. In most of the cases such migrations would not involve any kind of DNS settings change thus preventing any issues caused by propagation.
More Convenience & Ease of Use for you
With the decentralized DNS, people managing multiple sites on different servers have to keep track of different sets of nameservers, which may be inconvenient. The new centralized DNS simplifies multiple web site management processes for our clients, as all domains of all sites hosted on our platform, regardless of their hosting account or server can now use the same pair of nameservers.
When will the new DNS service become available?
All new websites created on our platform are already using the new DNS service. For older websites, we are now starting a gradual switch to the new centralized DNS. We will be updating nameservers for all domains registered with us automatically. For external domains used with our system, we will be informing our clients by email, confirming when it will be safe to update their DNS settings to the new ones. The old DNS system will continue to be supported for several more months, till the migration to the new one is fully completed.
Comments ( 106 )
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Kris
My ping time result decreased from 28ms to 4ms when compared the old to the new. That's amazing! it seems DNS sitting very closed to visitors. I couldn't wait your news ready for migration. My little question concerning the new centralized DNS. Does it also to support new features like DNSSEC, IPv6 DNS records, and DNS records lengths longer than 1024 bits? I don't expect to see they will come out soon but only to stay tuned if you keep them in wish-list. Thank you.
Hristo Pandjarov Siteground Team
Glad that you have such great results. All these are being considered by our team but at this point I can't promise they will be implemented or provide an ETA about it.
JS
Appreciate all the recent improvements. Is Elastic Search in the upcoming list? It's mandatory for Magento 2.4 and we cannot upgrade.
Hristo Pandjarov Siteground Team
It is not really in our short-term plans. You can check external ES services since it doesn't have to be on the same server as your hosting account.
AvApsi
Great news!!! :) Is this a step towards getting closer to private name servers? Really need the service :)
Hristo Pandjarov Siteground Team
Yes, it is :)
jergomez
Hello Guys How will this effect SEO on Google?
Hristo Pandjarov Siteground Team
It shouldn't affect it at all.
Henry
Can you elaborate more on what you say it won't affect SEO. Since Google looks at websites IP addresses when creating ranking scores. Doesn't it look like we're all sharing the same server and IP's?
Hristo Pandjarov Siteground Team
Well, it will not affect your SEO in any way since there is no IP address change.
Scott
This is the second time I have posted this plus another reply and they never show up or get answered on this post. Why? So our IP addresses will not change? I thought they were new IP addresses and new name servers?
Hristo Pandjarov Siteground Team
It takes some time until comments are approved. Yes, IP addresses will not change. Only the nameservers you're using and the nameservers' IP addresses. Your hosting servers remain unchanged so an IP address change is not necessary.
Patrick Doyle
So for webmasters that have hundreds of website hosted with you, on multiple types of accounts (both personal & client sites) what will we have to do to make sure there are no interruptions or website downtime? Candidly I'm getting tired of all these IP address and DNS changes you are making us go through! Last time you did a major change almost every single FTP had to be reconfigured. Sometime you people are a nightmare!
Hristo Pandjarov Siteground Team
You don't need to change IPs. We had to do these when we migrated our entire infrastructure to GCP but that's not something we do often really. If you have domains pointed via A records, you don't need to do anything on your end.
Federico Line
Great news!
Tony Mitchell
I am wondering if this decentralized DNS system will reduce the severe latency of the new Site Tools management platform. The old cPanel system worked great for me, but when you migrated to Site Tools, everything slowed to a crawl. I have had to get used to waiting up to 10 seconds after keystrokes and mouse clicks before anything happens. I also miss the old WYSIWYG editor.
Hristo Pandjarov Siteground Team
Site Tools performs way faster than cPanel. That must be something particular to your account or possibly a browser extension issue. Please, contact support to get that checked.
Paul Ogier
Will we be able to have white label name servers?
Hristo Pandjarov Siteground Team
Hopefully soon it will be available again.
Gergana Zhecheva Siteground Team
Hi Paul, we are happy to inform you that the Private DNS service is available once again. All end users will be able to see the custom name servers in their Site Tools Dashboard.
SD
If we use Cloudflare will we just need to update the IP or do we need to do anything? Its for an external domain.
Hristo Pandjarov Siteground Team
If you're using CF for your DNS, you don't need to update anything.
Mark
Even if CF was setup on cloudflare.com not using the Site Tools, cause am seeing A type records pointing to IPs which I guess you won't be using anymore?
Hristo Pandjarov Siteground Team
If your nameservers point to CF and then you point to your server via A record, you don't need to change anything.
Joe
I use google domains and noticed one of my sites is using the older nameservers (not ns1/ns2). Should i set it to these instead?
Hristo Pandjarov Siteground Team
Yes, they should work just fine with the new hostnames. We will mail clients with DNS zones that weren't migrated automatically due to some complication in the transfer process and assist in any possible way.
AE Clarke
Will this change the Mail Server on our server, or will it remain the same? Thanks Andrew
Hristo Pandjarov Siteground Team
No, it will remain the same.
Paul
Does this have ANY impact on SG customers who are NOT using your name servers Eg., where they have ONLY pointed A-Records to your servers and aren’t using SG email hosting?
Hristo Pandjarov Siteground Team
No :)
rick saul
Export and import zone files.. Is this available yet ? I cannot find a way to backup a zone file before making a change. I would like to move all DNS from godaddy to siteground but this one feature has stopped me in the past ?
Hristo Pandjarov Siteground Team
Even if we make such functionality available, it will be from one Site Tools site to another. Unfortunately, there isn't a standartized format for those that can be used across different hosting providers.
rick
Hristo to at least provide an export feature would give the abilty to keep backups . unix or windows format would not matter . in the current environment how do you restore a zone file when an error is made ?
Hristo Pandjarov Siteground Team
I will discuss this with the team.
tahlyn
Google Domains exports DNS records in both YAML and BIND format. Why can't Siteground import those?
Gergana Zhecheva Siteground Team
YAML is rarely used nowadays. As for the BIND format, our research showed that its use would not be suitable for managing complex DNS network systems, as it is easy to break, and the different format versions are not interoperable.
Brett
This is among the BEST of improvements in SiteGround services for our web services business... SG Optimiser is another gem. With faster DNS, more straightforward config, and easier server upgrade/migrations -- I'll smile even more often... Thank you, thank you, and thank you again!
Hristo Pandjarov Siteground Team
Thanks for the kind words!
Greg
How does this position SiteGround compared to Cloudflare? It seems like there are a lot of similarities.
Hristo Pandjarov Siteground Team
We are a hosting provider and Clouflare is just a CDN :)
Mason Dadson
We have multiple domains and different sub domains and records managed on a different service but point the a records to siteground. Will this stil be possible? It is completely impossible for us to move all of our domains to siteground as we have so many records already set up.
Hristo Pandjarov Siteground Team
That's not a problem at all. Changes affect only clients that want to use our nameservers. If you have them elsewhere and point your domains directly via A records for example, it will work just fine.
GK Web Agency
Hello HRISTO! I think custom DNS is most important for us and for our clients, do you have a plan to fix that future?
Hristo Pandjarov Siteground Team
It's in the roadmap, once everyone is migrated to the Centralized DNS I think that we will be able to provide this product again :)
Oliver
Will this improve the TTFB speed?
Hristo Pandjarov Siteground Team
DNS Lookup is not part of the TTFB calculation but it will improve the experience real people are getting from your site.
Chris Cramp
This all seems great stuff and fits with your commitment to making your customers websites load faster and helping keep things secure and running reliably as well. However one thing that really grinds my gears about SiteGround is because I am British and speak English 'English'. I hate the way your websites uses American spelling for words like centralised and optimised even my web browser and computer operating System , both of which are developed by organisations based in the USA, know how to speak and spell the 'Queen's English' . However running a Global Web Hosting business is just like politics you can never please all of the people all of the time. Keep up the good work 😁
Hristo Pandjarov Siteground Team
Thanks for the kind words and the feedback!
Adam
Great to hear website speed is constantly being improved with siteground! Just one question, for those who are a little less technical. Will these changes have any impact for us that are using a CDN currently?
Gergana Zhecheva Siteground Team
There shouldn't be any impact for CDN users, what matters is whether your website traffic is pointed to your SiteGround hosting via DNS records (IP) or via name servers. (In the first case, no changes are needed. In the latter, please ensure that the name servers in use match the ones displayed in SiteTools.)
Scott
I have all my domain registered with NameCheap and use the name severs given to me when I set up each site. So you will email me when I need to change the name servers correct and then I will change them to: -ns1.siteground.net (75.2.77.104) -ns2.siteground.net (99.83.229.113) Is this correct? Do you know when will this will all happen? Also, will there by any down time to our sites when we change the name severs to the new nameservers?
Gergana Zhecheva Siteground Team
All newly created websites are using the above-mentioned name servers by default. Clients with externally registered domains will receive an email notice for the name servers change, which should take place within the next few months. No downtime is expected during the process.
Scott
Will changing the DNS name servers hurt my rankings on search engines? I read that it can and I hope this will not affect anything.
Hristo Pandjarov Siteground Team
No, there will be no SEO effect from that change. You A record remains the same. It's just better user experience across the globe and safer in case of issues.
Harley
Hi, I have my domain with GoDaddy and my site with SiteGround - does this update apply to the SiteGround nameservers on my site or only if SiteGround hosts my domain? Thanks Harley
Hristo Pandjarov Siteground Team
The changes described in the post refer only to our name servers setup. If your site is pointed to the SiteGround hosting account only by A record (IP address), you do not need to update that - the hosting IP addresses remain the same. :)
harley
Hi Hristo, Thanks for your reply but please excuse my ignorance. My domain is with GoDaddy - does this change effect me? I would obviously like faster speeds. Thank you Harley
Hristo Pandjarov Siteground Team
It depends, if you have pointed your domain name to us via name servers, then it will affect you. If you have pointed them via A records - no, you are using GoDaddy's nameservers.
Harley
Hi Hristo, Thanks for your reply, my GoDaddy domain records are: ns1/2.us238.siteground.us = I will receive the speed benefits of this change? Thank you Harley
Hristo Pandjarov Siteground Team
In that case, once you switch to ns1/ns2.siteground.net you will start using our new service :) However, please wait until you get an email about it!
Daniel
Please help, I am very confused with this service. What is the difference between your DNS and Cloudflare? What is the correct option? I have a domain and websiste hosted in SG since 1 year ago. Do you have some tutorial to configure? Thanks in advance
Gergana Zhecheva Siteground Team
DNS is the obligatory connection between your domain name registration and the webserver on which your website files are located. Cloudflare is an additional CDN (content-delivery-network) service that some people use. There are various DNS setups, which is why there cannot be a unified configuration tutorial. Still, if you reach our Support via the HelpCenter flow in your ClientArea, our techs will be able to offer guidelines tailored to your personal needs.
Daniel
Thanks, but sorry I was wrong in my question. What's the diference between Cloudflare and our CDN (not DNS) ?
Hristo Pandjarov Siteground Team
Basically, they are working the same way :)
Derek
Is it required to transfer the domain name to siteground to utilize this feature?
Hristo Pandjarov Siteground Team
No, you can have the domain name registered elsewhere, you just need to change its name servers to ours once you receive the email notice.
Munir Werlin
How about if i have a custom DNS? i'm using ns1.mydomain.com and ns2.mydomain.com, any changes to my DNS setting?
Hristo Pandjarov Siteground Team
At this point we don't provide private DNS servers. If you're using external service for this, the DNS zone should be there and no changes are required. You can get in touch with support if you have questions about a particular domain or record.
SDAgency
1. So if a client has their domain at some host like GoDaddy and they use nameservers to point (not A records) does this mean their site AND email will be impacted until nameservers are updated at GoDaddy? 2. Most of our clients are not on a maintenance plan with us and will have no idea how to update their nameservers. Will collaborators on Siteground accounts be emailed the notification along with the site owners? That would be helpful. Thanks
Hristo Pandjarov Siteground Team
1. No - A records point to the same IP address and there is no change of IPs so you won't have to do anything at all. The change affects only people that have their domains pointed to our NS servers. 2. As always we email client owners. They should notify people responsible for site maintenance.
Jim
Can I change all my domains using the old Nameserver’s to the new ones myself now please ? Great improvement for which many thanks !!
Hristo Pandjarov Siteground Team
Only for new sites, for existing ones, please wait for an email :)
PAUL
Will there be some kind of announcement on the web hosting dashboard letting us know that we need to update the DNS? Email notifications can get lost sometimes. Will you be sending out reminder emails?
Hristo Pandjarov Siteground Team
We are still looking into the best way to notify people on time. Most probably we will send a number of emails to make sure everyone is notified.
Sac Nguyen Van
1- I was not informed in advance by your company about this sudden change. Does this change affect whether I have to update other functions or simply update DNS? 2- Can I change all my domains using the old Nameserver’s to the new ones myself now please ?
Hristo Pandjarov Siteground Team
This post is actually informing you about the upcoming change. You will receive a number of emails when your servers are scheduled for migration with detailed instructions on what to do next.
Simon Carne
May I offer a bit of feedback for regarding the email "New DNS service for your site(s) now active"? One part of the Instructions section is very, very confusing. One paragraph says: “For domain names pointing through A record …” do nothing. The very next paragraph says: “For domain names, NOT registered by SiteGround ..." do something. But my domain name meets BOTH criteria. So which instruction was I supposed to follow? I called the Help Desk and they told me I didn’t need to change anything. It would have been so much clearer if the relevant paragraph had started: “For domain names, NOT registered by SiteGround but using SiteGround's nameservers ..." and the instruction had been to “update the nameservers to the new ones”.
Hristo Pandjarov Siteground Team
Thanks for the feedback :) There are many ways one can use their domain name so it's a bit tricky to cover all cases. But when in doubt, you can always reach out to us and we will check your particular case!
Roger Pivonka
In DNS Zone Editor there was one record which I deleted yesterday. 'A' record that said "localhost.bmwmoc.org. 127.0.0.1" And another TXT record that is there now from before which says "v=spf1 +ip4:35.208.232.68 +a include:_spf.mailspamprotection.com +mx ~all" but bmwmoc.org is 35.209.89.182 Should this item be changed to 35.209.89.182??
Hristo Pandjarov Siteground Team
No, that's your server IP which remains the same :)
Andrew
Like others, I found the emails confusing. My domain is registered with UK2.net and I point to Siteground via a DNS A record (previously 35.214.12.6). I use A record as MX records point to Googlemail. This morning I changed the DNS A record to 75.2.77.104 and the site has stopped working. Should I wait for the new record to propagate or should I switch back?
Hristo Pandjarov Siteground Team
You should revert your A record. We're changing the DNS server IP, not the web hosting server one. If you have your domain with UK2 pointed via A record to us, there's nothing you should do.
German Escobar
Hi, I have the same problem, my site is stopped, I did also what you suggested, I reverted the record A to the previous one, my website is not working either, and now, what do I do now?.
Hristo Pandjarov Siteground Team
Changing A records was never advised. I am not sure what you did so please contact our technical support team so they can check your particular case and make the necessary adjustments to bring your site back online.
Paul
This change really only affects people with external registrars that are using siteground name servers currently....correct? Example I have a domain at GoDaddy but using NS1.US31.SITEGROUND.US and NS2.US31.SITEGROUND.US. So I would need to go into GoDaddy and update those name servers to ns1.siteground.net and ns2.siteground.net, is that right?
Hristo Pandjarov Siteground Team
Yes :)
John Stappen
I created my Domain with siteground, but when I go to services>domain>name servers it still shows ns1.giowm1247.siteground.biz and ns2.giowm1247.siteground.biz will this update take time to show up, or do I myself need to change them for some reason, also do we include the I.P in parentheses when adding those DNS settings.
Hristo Pandjarov Siteground Team
If your domain is registered with us you don't need to do anything. Once your server is migrated the nameservers for your domains will be changed too.
Joanna
I have one domain name that is not on Siteground (but the hosting is). When should I expect the change? Should I expect any downtime? I am stressed if there will be any interruptions with my emails and website visibility.
Hristo Pandjarov Siteground Team
There will be enough time to do this, don't worry. We will send you an email once your server is migrated to the new DNS.
Stephen
I have a website hosted with Siteground, but my domain name is registered with Bluehost. I changed settings from NS1.uk1004.SITEGROUND.EU and NS2.UK1004.SITEGROUND.EU to ns1.siteground.net and ns2.siteground.net respectively. Should I fill in the IP addresses for these in the A name part? Can anyone help here?
Hristo Pandjarov Siteground Team
No, only the NS records should be changed. A records are the same.
Welly
Hi Hristo, will this DNS change affect the email delivery? I'm currently using office365 as the email. Will there be any downtime to the email with office365?
Hristo Pandjarov Siteground Team
No, it will not affect it. Just make sure you update your records on time.
John
What is the exact date of the cutoff? I have heard November 15, and today I was told December 15th. Which is it? The chat rep told me the admins pushed it back and we should get another e-mail.
Hristo Pandjarov Siteground Team
You will receive an email with more information. The sooner you update your nameservers, the better, you don't need to wait for the last moment to do so.
Ted
This creates a ton of work for me and is not worth the benefit. I wish you would give us the option instead of forcing us to do this.
Gergana Zhecheva Siteground Team
We realize this switch involves additional manual changes for any externally registered domain names, and how stressful this might be for some account owners. Yet, we believe this will be a change for the better due to the gained efficiency, speed and security for our clients.
Melody Sharp
Going forward, what will this eventually cost for my clients?
Gergana Zhecheva Siteground Team
There will not be any additional fess for using the Central DNS name servers. This functionality can be used for free by all clients whose websites are hosted on our web servers.
Darlene
I have no idea how to configure the change. New nameservers you need to use: ns1.siteground.net (75.2.77.104) ns2.siteground.net (99.83.229.113) We are a "one-man" show and I have no idea how to do this and I can't find specific instructions. Please advise.
Gergana Zhecheva Siteground Team
Hey Darlene, If your domain name is registered through another company, you should have received an email with more detailed instructions on the switch. For your convenience, I will outline the steps you need to take: 1. Find which company is your domain registrar by typing your domain name in a whois lookup tool, for instance, https://whois.domaintools.com 2. Contact this company and ask them to update your name servers to the Central DNS ones (ns1.siteground.net and ns2.siteground.net)
Carmelo
Hi, i'm using siteground cdn premium...with SG optimizer and Imagify (only for webp images). Inside imagify, at "Use tag " setting which url i have to set "to serve" images by cdn? Tnx a lot
Ivan Naidenov Siteground Team
Hello Carmelo, thank you for the question! We did some testing and if you're running Imagify with our CDN you don't need to set custom URLs from the "Use tags" option inside the plugin's settings. Tick the "Display images in WebP format on the site" box and select "Use rewrite rules". The plugin will create WebP versions of your images and our CDN will automatically load those. If you have any additional questions we'll be happy to check further. You can get in touch directly from the Help Center by following the steps here: https://stgrnd.co/contactus/ .
Scott
I've had issues with major US ISPs (Spectrum/Charter and Cox) bouncing emails (using a different host provider) because DNS was not full circle. -- am am strongly considering a move to SiteGround... Does SG provide full circle DNS such that reverse DNS resolves to the same ip/domain? i.e. are PTR records correct or adjusted for email servers? Thanks!
Ivan Naidenov Siteground Team
Thank you for the chance to elaborate, this is a very good question. At this point we don't offer a PTR record or as it is sometimes called - a Reverse DNS record. Check out our dedicated article for more info: https://www.siteground.com/kb/what_is_a_ptr_record_and_how_to_add_one/. As we know how important emails are, we do everything needed from a technical standpoint to ensure their proper function. You're always welcome to test our service and verify yourself. We offer a money-back guarantee on our plans as we want to be sure we're the right fit for your needs. Let's chat, our team will gladly address any questions you may have: https://stgrnd.co/chat
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