Domain, DNS and business email: the guide to not losing your site and mail

The domain is the address by which customers find you and with which you write emails: if it is lost, everything is lost. Yet it is one of the things most taken for granted, often registered to whoever made the site years ago, with an expired credit card and a warning email nobody reads.

In this guide I explain in simple terms what domain, DNS and business email are, and how to avoid the most painful surprises.

Domain, hosting and email: three different things

People tend to confuse them, but they are distinct services.

• Domain: the address (yourname.com). It is registered with a provider, called a registrar, and renewed every year.
• Hosting: the place where the site's files live.
• Email: the mail service (mailboxes like info@yourname.com), which can be with a different provider from the site.
• DNS: the "address book" that tells the world where to find the site and where to deliver that domain's mail.

When you change one of these pieces, it is almost always the DNS that has to be updated.

Who should own the domain

It is the most important point. The domain should be registered to you or your company, with your details and a recovery email you actually check.

It often happens that it is registered to:

• the agency or freelancer who made the first site;
• a former collaborator or the partner who left;
• a hosting provider you no longer work with.

In these cases, if the relationship ends, recovering the domain can be complicated and costly. Check today who is listed as the registrant, and where the panel access is.

Renewal: how not to lose the address

Expiry is one of the most banal causes of disaster. Plan for:

• automatic renewal on, with a valid payment method;
• reminders to a group email, not a personal mailbox;
• registration for several years, if you want peace of mind;
• a backup contact who can act if the usual person is not there.

After expiry there is a grace period, but it is best not to get there: the site and mail stop right away.

DNS in simple words

DNS is made of "records", lines that say where to point each service. The main ones:

• A / AAAA: connect the domain to the address of the server where the site lives.
• CNAME: points a name (for example www) to another name.
• MX: say where to deliver the domain's mail.
• TXT: hold verification and security information, including SPF, DKIM and DMARC.

Changing the DNS is a delicate operation: a mistake can make the site or mail unreachable. Before changing, it is worth copying the current configuration, and taking into account the TTL, the time (from minutes to hours) over which changes propagate.

Business email: why not use a free mailbox

Writing to customers from an address with your domain gives a more serious image and leaves you in control. Some choices to make:

• Where the mail lives: a dedicated service or the one included in the hosting. Dedicated services are generally more reliable and flexible.
• How many mailboxes you need, and who has access to which.
• Aliases: addresses like info@ or accounts@ that forward to real people.
• What happens when someone leaves the company: the mailbox and messages stay with the company.

SPF, DKIM and DMARC: so that emails do not end up in spam

They are three checks mail providers use to work out whether a message really comes from you.

• SPF: lists which servers are authorised to send mail for your domain.
• DKIM: adds a digital signature to messages, proving they have not been altered.
• DMARC: says what to do when the previous checks fail (accept, quarantine, reject) and sends reports.

If one of the three is missing or badly configured, your emails risk ending up in spam, or worse, someone can send fake messages in the name of your domain. It is worth having them configured carefully, especially if you also use external services to send (newsletters, site forms, invoices).

SSL certificate and secure address

The padlock in the browser shows that the connection is encrypted. The SSL certificate has to be activated and renewed: today many hosts do it automatically, but it is worth checking that it does not expire. An expired certificate shows visitors a not-secure warning.

Common mistakes

• Domain registered to third parties with nobody remembering.
• Expired payment card linked to the renewal.
• Warning emails that go to a mailbox nobody reads any more.
• DNS changes without a copy of the previous configuration.
• A single person with access, and no plan if they are unavailable.
• Business emails hosted somewhere nobody checks, perhaps with a weak password.

A checklist to do today

1. Who is listed as the registrant of the domain? Is it me (or my company)?
2. When does it expire, and is automatic renewal on?
3. Where are the registrar credentials, and who knows them?
4. Where does the DNS live and who can edit it?
5. Are SPF, DKIM and DMARC configured?
6. Does the SSL certificate renew by itself?
7. Do I have a copy of the current DNS configuration?

Why entrust it to me

I have been programming since 1999, with more than 300 projects delivered and about 30 agencies as an external developer. I handle registration and management of domains, DNS records, SSL certificates and professional email mailboxes, including SPF, DKIM and DMARC so they do not end up in spam, with access always in your name. I work from Rome and remotely.

If you want to put your domain, DNS and mail in order, write to me: a chat of about 20 minutes, no strings attached, then a written, free proposal. The service is in Hosting, servers and cloud infrastructure.