Who manages your domain? How to find your registrar, DNS host and web host

Three different roles come with every domain name, and each can sit with a different company: the registrant (the person or organisation the domain is registered to), the registrar (where the domain is registered and where you get the transfer code, also called EPP or auth code) and the DNS host (whose nameservers decide where your website and email end up). You find the registrar with a WHOIS lookup, for a .nl domain at SIDN, and you recognise the DNS host by your domain's nameservers. Within a few minutes you know who to contact for your login details, your transfer code or a DNS change.

Below you can read who handles what, how to look up each party, what the LJPc customer portal shows you and what to do when you can no longer log in at your old registrar.

Registrant, registrar, DNS host and web host: who handles what?

Four roles are involved in a domain name. Often they sit with one company, but after a few changes of web designer or provider, each role can end up somewhere else.

An example: your previous web designer once registered your domain through their own registrar, the DNS is still with that designer and your website now runs at LJPc. For the transfer code you need the reseller or the registrar. To point your domain at your new website, you change the records at the DNS host. How domain name, hosting package and email run as separate subscriptions is explained in domain name or website: what to cancel and when it stops.

Is your domain registered with LJPc?

Start in the customer portal. It shows at a glance what you have with us:

• Services > Domains lists the domains registered with us on your account. On a domain's page, the Domain overview block shows LJPc DNS under DNS when the domain uses our nameservers, and External when another company hosts your DNS. The same page lists the nameservers in the Nameservers block. If your account may manage WHOIS contacts, it also shows the registrant under Registrant.
• Services > Sites lists your websites with us. If a site's domain is not registered with us on your account, the site's page says No domains linked to this site. under Linked domains. Your website then runs with us while your domain is with another company or on another account.
• Plesk shows your hosting, not your registration. A domain can be in Plesk while it is registered somewhere else.

If your domain is not under Domains, it is registered with another company or on someone else's account, for example your web designer's. With a sub-account you only see Domains when the main user gives you the right to view domains; see sub-accounts in the customer portal. If your domain is with us, you find the transfer code on the domain's page, as described in get your EPP code and transfer your domain.

How to find your domain registrar with WHOIS

Every extension has a registry: the organisation that runs it, such as SIDN for .nl and DNS Belgium for .be. Its public lookup service, the WHOIS, shows which registrar your domain is with.

1. A .nl domain: look it up in the SIDN WHOIS. You see the status, the registrar, the nameservers, whether DNSSEC is on and the registration date. If a Reseller is listed too, that is the intermediary that handles the registration for you, usually the company you pay for the domain. If it says LJPc, you will find the domain in your customer portal.
2. .com, .net, .org and other generic extensions: use ICANN Lookup. It shows the registrar with its abuse contact details, the status, the nameservers and the registration and expiry dates.
3. Other country extensions: use the WHOIS of their own registry, such as the one from DNS Belgium for .be. More about that registry in DNS Belgium explained.
4. From a terminal on macOS or Linux, run whois yourdomain.com. On Linux you may need to install the whois package first.

The registrant's name is usually hidden, because personal data of private individuals is protected. What is and isn't public is covered in how to manage WHOIS data for your domain name.

How to find your DNS host from the nameservers

Your domain's nameservers tell you who hosts your DNS. They are also in the WHOIS. From a terminal or the Windows command prompt:

dig NS yourdomain.com +short          # macOS and Linux
nslookup -type=NS yourdomain.com      # Windows

• ns1.ljpc.network, ns2.ljpc.network and ns3.ljpc.network mean LJPc hosts your DNS. You change records in Plesk or in the customer portal, as described in managing DNS records.
• Any other names mean the company behind those nameservers hosts your DNS. You often recognise the provider's name in them. That is where you change records, or where you set LJPc's nameservers at your registrar.

Two records show where your website and email actually go:

dig yourdomain.com A +short           # your website's IP address
dig MX yourdomain.com +short          # your mail servers

If your email arrives at LJPc, you see mx1.ljpc.email and mx2.ljpc.email. The IP address your website should have with us is shown in your domain's DNS check in Plesk, in the Expected column, next to what your domain's nameserver returns right now. How to read that check is explained in point a domain at another provider to LJPc hosting. More commands and how to read their output are in troubleshooting DNS problems.

Your website or email doesn't arrive at LJPc

You have a hosting package with us, but your domain still opens your old website or your email lands somewhere else? Then your domain's DNS records still point to your old provider. To fix it:

1. Find your DNS host from the nameservers, as above.
2. Choose your route. To keep your DNS where it is, change the records there using the values from the DNS check in Plesk, as described in point your domain to LJPc hosting. To manage everything with us, set LJPc's nameservers at your registrar with the steps in change your nameservers.
3. Check the result in the DNS check in Plesk. Green under Authoritative NS means the record is correct; public DNS servers follow once their cache time (the TTL) runs out. More in DNS propagation.

Does your domain still redirect visitors to another address? A redirect is not a DNS record. Even when you set it up in a provider's DNS screen, your A record points to a web server of that provider, and that server sends visitors on. As long as your A and AAAA records point there, that provider controls your redirect. So set up the redirect on your hosting with us first, then change the records. The options are explained in redirect a domain to another website.

You can't log in at your registrar anymore

Lost your login, can't reach the web designer who set it up, or has the agency closed down? If the domain is registered in your name, you can still get your transfer code. Here's how:

1. Look up the reseller and the registrar in the WHOIS. If a reseller is listed, start there: that is usually where your account was. Also check your records for invoices for the domain; they show who you pay.
2. Ask for a new login or straight for the transfer code. Your current registrar has to give you the code. For a .nl domain within five days of your request, under SIDN's rules. For .com and other generic extensions within five calendar days, unless you can get the code yourself in their control panel, under ICANN's Transfer Policy.
3. Show that you are the registrant. For a .nl domain, request your registrant details from SIDN. Enter your domain name with the email address and postcode that belong to the registration. If they match, you receive an email with two links: one for you and one for the organisation you share the details with, for example your registrar. Each link opens once. If the email address or postcode is out of date, ask your registrar to update it. If that fails too, the same SIDN page explains how to request the details from them with a copy of your ID.
4. No reply? For a .nl domain, send a reminder, for example with SIDN's template. For a generic extension, ask the registrar for the reason. If you think it is unjustified, file a complaint with ICANN.
5. Transfer the domain. With the transfer code you move your domain to LJPc in the customer portal, using the steps in transfer your domain to LJPc. After that you manage domain and hosting together in your portal.

Is the domain registered to someone else, such as your web designer or a former company? Then that registrant decides on a transfer or handover, and you need their cooperation. Ask for a change of registrant to your name. How that works and what it means for a later transfer is explained in change the owner of a domain name.

What LJPc hosting takes care of

If your domain is with us, the customer portal shows the registrant, the nameservers and the transfer code for each domain, and you manage your DNS in Plesk or in the portal. If your domain is somewhere else, the choice is yours: transfer it to us with the transfer code and manage everything in one place, or keep the registration where it is and set up the DNS there for your hosting with us. Not sure which values your provider needs? Create a support ticket with your domain name and we will tell you exactly which records to set.