Can one buy out a domain name and use with another hosting service?

November 30, 2020 3:45 PM

I am thinking about moving my web content to another web hosting service but would like to keep using my current domain name.

What are the proper steps for me to start using a new web hosting service with an existing domain name from IONOS (1&1)? I would like to know any option or suggestion so I know what I am expecting from the customer service.

posted by lanhan to Computers & Internet (2 answers total)

Yes. This is not uncommon.

You will likely need to edit a DNS record to point the A record for your website domain address, to the new hosting provider’s IP address (they will tell you what to use).

I would be surprised if neither one or the other doesn’t have a guide to doing this on their Support pages or FAQ.

You could , but don’t have to, also move the domain hosting over to the new provider, by updating the SOA record. A little more complex than the above, but. Or necessary if you are happy with your current provider continuing to own domain-resolution services.
posted by armoir from antproof case at 4:01 PM on November 30, 2020

Owning a DNS name is it's own thing. It's yours as long as you pay the bills (unless you got it from a really shady provider). But it's complex to pay the bills, the actual DNS providers for the world can't deal with a bazillion users themselves. So they delegate to Registrars and sub-contrators and such. So you have to pay to keep it yours, but you also have to pay a provider of some sort to take your money and let you mess with it as much as you want.

Your old ISP (and most big ones) have both a Resistrar service and the whole hosting of virtual machines and compute power etc. service.

So you can keep your old ISP as Registrar but move your stuff to new ISP. Just change some DNS records to point to the right place. You'll have 2 bills, one from new ISP and one from old ISP.

Or you can transfer the Registration of the domain from the old ISP to the new ISP. (Basically the new ISP just makes a request to the old ISP to hand it over but that's fine and is just a part of being a Registrar). Hopefully.

Both your old ISP and new ISP will charge you the 'fee' that it takes to just keep paying for that domain name from the DNS gods, but one might be cheaper because volume. Then they'll charge you for the actual hosting of the domain DNS stuff. The UI for changing it, how many entries you get, etc.

So it really comes down to which ISP has the better features/cost breakdown. And of course customer support.

You should be able to leave your domain DNS where it is, move it to your new ISP, or even move it to a different provider altogether.
posted by zengargoyle at 4:50 PM on November 30, 2020