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DNS Hosting for External Domains

Which features are provided as a part of the DNS from IONOS?

IONOS provides DNS-as-a-service as a part of the package DNS Standard that you can use with your external domains managed by other domain registrars.

DNS Standard includes features such as public DNS, standard DNS record management, basic Anycast, Domain Connect, and DynDNS.

What is the difference between DNS Standard and DNS Pro?

The DNS options offered in the DNS Standard package include all of the standard and public protocols. Alternatively, premium DNS features such as Premium Anycast, Secondary DNS, DNS Templates, DNS backup and restore, and DNSSEC can only be found by ordering the more robust DNS Pro add-on.

What is public DNS?

Public DNS servers hold a vast amount of information about which websites are hosted on which IP addresses.

When DNS resolves a website to an IP address, multiple servers may have to be queried in the process. This can result in a slower browsing experience overall if, for example, your ISP has assigned you to a less-than-optimal DNS server. Accordingly, public DNS servers retain information about which servers need to be checked, thus speeding up your response times when loading websites. Additionally, certain public DNS servers have security in mind and will automatically prevent you from reaching sites known for phishing or malware.

What are standard DNS records and where can I set them up?

DNS records, or resource records, are the basic units of information used in the Domain Name System (DNS). They are instructions that live in authoritative DNS servers and provide information about a domain, including which IP address is associated with that domain and how to handle requests for it. Some of the standard DNS records you can configure for your domains include the following:

For details on how you can change your DNS settings, please see the article Managing DNS Settings at IONOS.

What is Basic Anycast?

Anycast is a routing and addressing method that allows the use of a single IP address for multiple servers, rather than using one IP address per server. By using servers configured in an Anycast cluster, your websites benefit from redundancy and globally distributed DNS sites, allowing for faster response times, better availability, and greater reliability. Additionally, your websites become more resilient to negative performance factors such as network congestion or DDoS attacks.

With 12 PoPs (Points of Presense) in the EU, UK, and US, you can always be assured to have a fast resolution of your websites and services. Incoming requests from your visitors will be always directed to the PoP geographically closest to them for faster response times.

What is the difference between Basic and Premium Anycast?

Premium Anycast offers a significant advantage over Basic Anycast by accessing 46 globally distributed Points of Presence (PoPs) for DNS infrastructure, while Basic Anycast uses only 12 PoPs in the EU, UK, and the US. This means that Premium Anycast ensures even greater reliability and stability for your websites and enables faster delivery of your websites to visitors worldwide. No matter where your visitors are located, with Premium Anycast you can count on short DNS server response times.

If you want to take advantage of Premium Anycast and other premium DNS features with your domain, order DNS Pro in addition to your DNS Standard contract.

What is Domain Connect?

Domain Connect is an open standard that makes it easy for a user to configure their domain's DNS to work with certain services without understanding any of the complexities of DNS. For example, Domain Connect makes it possible to automatically set up your domain for Plesk without having to make any DNS changes yourself.

IONOS collaborates with over 30 service providers to simplify such domain connections.

What is DynDNS and how can I set it up for my domain?

DynDNS, which stands for Dynamic Domain Name System (DDNS), allows you to forward your home network’s constantly changing IP addresses to a fixed domain name. You simply have to register with a DDNS service using an available name (such as subdomain.example.com). Once this has been set up, your computer is always available under this address, even if you don’t know its current IP address.

For more details on this topic, please see the article Setting Up Dynamic DNS.

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