Domain registered elsewhere? How to point it to LJPc hosting

If your domain is registered with another provider and your website or email is hosted at LJPc, you can point the domain to us in one of two ways. Either you change the nameservers at your provider to ns1.ljpc.network, ns2.ljpc.network and ns3.ljpc.network, or you keep the DNS where it is and add a few records that point to your hosting plan. The DNS check in Plesk shows the exact values for your domain. As soon as your domain and www point to your hosting plan, our system requests a free SSL certificate for you.

This guide covers which option suits you, which DNS records to add at your registrar or DNS host, how to read the DNS check, why a certificate can take a while and how to see whether a domain still points to LJPc.

Two ways to point your domain to LJPc hosting

With both options your domain stays registered with your current provider. The difference is who manages the DNS: the set of records that decides where your website and email go.

To switch to the LJPc nameservers, follow the steps in change your nameservers. If you also transfer the registration to us, the nameservers point to LJPc automatically once the transfer completes, see transfer your domain to LJPc. The rest of this guide covers the second option, where the DNS stays with your provider.

Which DNS records do you need?

A website and email at LJPc always need the same kinds of records. The IP addresses depend on your server and the DKIM key is unique to each domain, so copy those from the DNS check of your own domain. The table uses example values.

Keep these points in mind:

• The name field. @ means the domain itself. Some providers want an empty field or the full domain name instead. For the other records, enter only the part before your domain, so www rather than www.yourdomain.com.
• One address per name. Replace the A, AAAA and www records of your previous host instead of adding new ones next to them. With two addresses on the same name, some visitors end up on the old server. Also turn off any forwarding or parking page your provider has on the domain.
• No AAAA row in the DNS check? Then delete any AAAA record at your provider. Otherwise IPv6 visitors still reach your old host and the certificate cannot be issued.
• One SPF record. If you already have an SPF record, add include:_spf.ljpc.network to it. It tells receiving servers that our mail servers may send email for your domain. Without it, your email may be rejected or end up in spam. How to combine several includes is explained in adding DNS records from an email or marketing service.
• The DKIM key. Copy it from the DNS check and paste it in one go, without quotation marks around it. Every character counts.
• DMARC. If _dmarc already has a record, keep it rather than adding a second one. The options are explained in what is DMARC?
• TTL. Keep the default. Lowering the TTL of your existing records to 15 minutes a day in advance, if your provider allows it, makes the switch faster.

If you use the premium spam filter, use the MX value from that article. Records for other services, such as a newsletter tool or a verification code, stay next to these records.

Only your website or only your email at LJPc?

• Website only: add the A, AAAA and www records, and keep the MX and mail records of your email provider. If your website sends email from your own domain, for example from a contact form, also add include:_spf.ljpc.network to your SPF record and add the DKIM record.
• Email only: add the MX, SPF, DKIM and DMARC records and the two CNAME records for email apps, and keep the records of your website.

In your email app the server is always ljpc.email, wherever your DNS is hosted. All settings are in set up email on your phone and computer.

Open the DNS check in Plesk

The DNS check compares your domain's records with what your hosting plan expects. It works as soon as your site exists in Plesk, so you can pass the values to your provider or IT partner before the website goes live.

1. Log in to the customer portal, choose Sites in the Services menu and click your site.
2. In the Site overview block, click Log in to Plesk. Plesk opens in a new tab without a separate password, see open Plesk from the customer portal.
3. You land on Websites & Domains. Click the Hosting & DNS tab of your domain.
4. Click DNS check. The check starts by itself and finishes within a few seconds.

How to read the DNS check

At the top is a banner about your nameservers, below it a table with one row per record.

The nameserver banner

• Nameservers are correctly pointing to ns1/ns2/ns3.ljpc.network (green): LJPc manages your domain's DNS.
• Nameservers are not pointing to us, followed by the current nameservers and Change to: ns1.ljpc.network, ns2.ljpc.network, ns3.ljpc.network: your domain's DNS is hosted elsewhere. If you chose to keep DNS at your provider, that is fine and only the table matters. The banner says nothing about where the domain is registered.

The table

Every cell gets a coloured dot:

• Green: the answer contains the expected value.
• Orange: the answer is different, or there is no record (No records found).
• Red: the DNS server did not answer (Query timeout or failed). Wait a minute and click Run DNS Check Again at the bottom.

Read the columns together:

• Green under Authoritative NS, orange under CloudFlare or Google: the record is correct and on its way. Public resolvers keep the old answer until its TTL expires.
• Orange in all three columns: the record at your provider is not right yet. Compare the answer with the Expected column.
• Not sure about DKIM? Send a test email from your address to an address at another provider and view the original message source. If it shows dkim=pass for your domain, the record is correct.

When do you get the SSL certificate?

Your hosting plan includes a free Let's Encrypt certificate, and our system requests it for you. Every 15 minutes it checks whether your domain and www.yourdomain.com point only to your hosting plan with their A record and, if present, their AAAA record. It checks this at Google, at Cloudflare and at your domain's nameserver: the same three columns as in the DNS check. Once they are correct for both the domain and www, you usually have a certificate for both within an hour.

To get the certificate straight away, request it yourself in Plesk. The steps are in Let's Encrypt: set up your free SSL certificate.

Where do you edit records later?

Always at the party behind your nameservers. Even when your DNS is hosted at your provider, your domain has its own DNS zone in Plesk. The DNS check takes its expected values from that zone, but visitors only use it once your domain uses the LJPc nameservers. So make changes for your website or email at your provider. How to manage records in Plesk and in the portal once you use the LJPc nameservers is covered in manage DNS records.

Moving to the LJPc nameservers later

You can switch at any time. If your domain does not use the LJPc nameservers, our system removes its zone from our nameservers after a few days. Plesk then shows the Trigger DNS zone sync tile on the Hosting & DNS tab instead of DNS zone synced. To switch without downtime:

1. Check the records in Plesk under DNS. First copy over any records for other services that you added at your provider.
2. On the Hosting & DNS tab, click Trigger DNS zone sync. You see DNS zone sync triggered successfully and within a few minutes the zone is back on our nameservers.
3. Within a week, change the nameservers at your provider to ns1.ljpc.network, ns2.ljpc.network and ns3.ljpc.network.

If you skip step 2, our system restores the zone by itself after the switch, but your domain may be unreachable until then. More about the switch and DNSSEC is in change your nameservers.

Does your domain still point to LJPc?

The same DNS check shows whether a website or mailbox has moved to another host, for example before you cancel a hosting plan nobody uses any more:

• If the A, AAAA and www rows are orange with a different address in all three columns, your website runs elsewhere.
• If the MX row is orange with other mail servers, your email arrives elsewhere.
• If everything is orange, nothing points to your hosting plan any more.

The Nameservers are not pointing to us banner on its own does not tell you this: a domain with DNS elsewhere can still point to LJPc. To stop a plan, see cancel a subscription.

How long does it take?

How quickly a change reaches your domain's nameserver depends on your provider; the Authoritative NS column shows whether it is there. Public resolvers such as Google and Cloudflare keep the old answer until its TTL expires, often an hour and sometimes a day. When you change nameservers, allow a few hours and sometimes up to 48 hours. See DNS propagation for how this works.

Need a hand? Create a support ticket and include your domain name. We tell you exactly which values belong where; the change itself is made at your provider, by you or by whoever manages the domain there.