What you MUST know about Godaddy Nameservers

Gary Eckstein Internet 4 , , , ,

Many of my customers host their Sites with Godaddy. Generally Godaddy is a great host, is inexpensive and WordPress works well on their Linux hosting. Support from Godaddy too is good and the poor service of the past has mostly gone.

I however came across a problem with nameservers a few days back; I required to host a .au domain name I purchased through an Australian domain registrar on my Godaddy hosting. Usually the process of hosting a domain name that has not been purchased from Godaddy is painless however for some reason my domain name just wouldn’t ‘redirect’ to my Godaddy hosting.

Nameserver Steps Taken

As I have done in the past, I followed the instructions at Godaddy for Setting Nameservers for a Domain Name Registered Elsewhere and Hosted Here. The tip at the end of the nameservers list states ‘TIP: You can also find your domain name’s nameservers in the Zone File Editor…’ which is exactly what I did.

I therefore set my nameservers for my Australian domain name according to the corresponding dates provided by Godaddy, by the Zone File Editor info and according the the nameserver details I have set for other domains I host with Godaddy that I have purchased through another domain name seller. BUT, my .au domain name didn’t ‘redirect’ to my hosting. The instructions by Godaddy are wrong!

What you should really set your Nameservers to

I finally managed to figure out the nameservers I should have been setting my DNS to; unfortunately it wasn’t the same as provided by the Godaddy article mentioned above nor those stipulated in the Zone File Editor. The true nameservers may be found, once you’ve added your domain name to your hosting account, via

  1. Login to your Godaddy hosting account
  2. Go to Domain Manager -> DNS Manager
  3. Click Edit Zone underneath the Domain Name you wish to host at Godaddy.
  4. The nameservers are listed under the NS (Nameserver) section.

Sequence to Hosting a Domain Name at Godaddy

So, the order of steps to be taken when hosting a domain name at Godaddy when you have purchased the domain name elsewhere and when the DNS is managed externally are:

  1. Login to your Godaddy account.
  2. Under My Products click Hosting
  3. Click Launch under Control Center
  4. Click Domains
  5. Click Add Domain to add your domain name
  6. Wait a few hours then make a note of the nameservers as described previously.
  7. Access the DNS for your domain name and change the nameservers to those as provided in step 6 above.

I hope this helps you as this took me hours to figure out!