The Advanced DNS Settings / DNS Manager page in SiteControl (Control Panel) is a tool that visualizes all your domain's DNS records and allows for additions or modifications to your current list of DNS records. Most users will never need to edit or even view the DNS records. Use the tool only if you need to create new custom DNS records, redirect existing DNS records to third-party destinations, or modify existing mail exchanger (MX) records to point them to a third-party email service provider.
You can use the Advanced DNS Settings tool only if your domain name points to our name servers.
If not, contact your name server provider for assistance with any DNS record changes.
This article contains the following sections:
- View current DNS records
- DNS Record Types and Usage Explained
- Add new DNS records
- Edit existing DNS records
I. View current DNS records:
1. Log in to your Dun & Bradstreet control panel, go to Home > My Apps, and click on the tile containing your active service to reach our SiteControl.
2. Click on the Domain Name menu, located on the Home page.
3. Click on the Edit button right next to the domain for which you wish to edit the DNS zone.
4. At the bottom of the domain Summary page, click Advanced DNS Settings.
The sample below shows our default DNS records of a domain name using our Website Builder hosting and Business Email services:
II. DNS Record Types and Usage Explained:
1. A (Address Mapping) records, marked in blue color in the sample above, specify the IP address (IPv4) of your Web Hosting Services (in this case, Website Builder Services).
2. CNAME (Canonical Name) record, marked in orange color, is a type of DNS record that maps an alias name to a true or canonical domain name. It can be used to alias the domain name with your MySQL database server or for Autodiscover records, for example. In this case, it is a part of our Website Builder DNS Setup.
3. MX (Mail exchanger) record, marked in green color, specifies your mail exchange server, and it is responsible for your Email Services. Typically, there is more than one MX record and each of them have a priority value. A lower-priority number indicates a higher-priority MX record.
Information about Dun & Bradstreet's MX record configurations:
- The MX record should be pointed to the hostname “mx.siteprotect.com”.
Important Note: When using the configurations above, the incoming mail flow will go through our SpamExperts Anti-Virus/Anti-Spam (AVAS) solution.
4. Name Server (NS) record, marked in red color, specifies the authoritative name servers for your domain name.
Important Note: Changing the default:
- c.dns.siteprotect.com
- d.dns.siteprotect.com
name server (NS) records in your DNS zone file will NOT change the authoritative name servers of your domain name. For instructions on how to change the authoritative name servers of a domain name registered with us, see the How do I change my nameservers? article.
5. TXT (SPF) - A sender policy framework (SPF) record (marked in brown above) is a type of DNS TXT record that lists all the servers authorized to send emails from a particular domain.
III. Add new DNS records:
1. Follow the instructions in Section I: View current DNS records of this article to access the Advanced DNS Settings manager tool.
2. Use the drop-down menu of the Add a New Resource Record section and select the type of the record you wish to add: A, CNAME, NS, or TXT. If you need to add an MX record, then use the pre-selected field that has a Type - MX.
3. In the Source field, enter the name of the record (e.g.: example.com, www.example.com, ftp.example.com, mail.example.com, imap.example.com).
Note: The “@” symbol is not accepted by our tool as a valid source. Thus, make sure to replace it with the actual domain name (e.g.: example.com)
4. In the Destination field, enter the location to which the new record will point:
a. If you selected type A, then the destination must be an IP address.
b. If you selected type CNAME, then the destination must point to a domain name or hostname.
c. If you selected type MX, then the destination must point to the hostname of the email service provider.
d. If you selected type TXT, then the destination value can be free-form text data of any type.
Note: The following record should be added as TXT record type in order to use our SPF record listed below:
Our Business Email SPF value is:
"v=spf1 include:mfg.siteprotect.com ~all"
5. Finally, click Add Now.
IV. Edit existing DNS records:
Keep in mind that there is a propagation time when DNS changes are made. Typically, the propagation time takes a few minutes for DNS changes to update across the Internet's DNS system, however it can occasionally take longer (4-6 hours) for a change to take effect.
1. Follow the instructions in Section I: View current DNS records of this article to access the DNS Manager tool. If you have multiple domain names under your account, make sure to select the correct one using the Edit DNS Zone for drop-down menu.
2. In the Current Resource Record(s) section, you can choose to change the name of either the Source or the Destination of an existing record.
3. Click the Update button next to the appropriate Destination field.
Note: Before you update an existing DNS record, it is recommended to lower the Time To Live (TTL) value to 300 seconds (5 minutes). This way the DNS propagation time will be shorter.
4. If you need to delete a record, click Delete next to the appropriate Destination field.