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External domain: Update DNS records

How to update the A and AAAA records of a domain not hosted at Raidboxes

Neele de Jonge avatar
Written by Neele de Jonge
Updated over 2 months ago

In the previous article we completed the first two steps to link your external domain to your Box:

Step 1: Activate your Box
​Step 2: Add a domain

This article carries on from here:

Step 3: Update the A and AAAA records
​Step 4: Check the DNS entries

Step 3: Update the A and AAAA records

You now need to update the DNS records for your external domain.

What are A and AAAA records?

A and AAAA records determine which web space your domain or subdomain points to. If you update these records with the IP address of your Box, your domain will point to your Box.

You’ll find the IP addresses of your Box in the Domains section of your Box overview. Depending on the data center where your Box is located, either one or two IP addresses will be displayed.

If your Box is on our IPv6 servers, you'll find an IPv4 and an IPv6 address. If your Box is hosted at our IPv4 data center, you'll only see an IPv4 address here.

How do you determine the IP address of your (new) server?

In your Box dashboard, you will find a “Domains” tile. In the lower part of this tile, you will find the information you need: the IPv4 address for the DNS-A record and, for boxes on our new Raidboxes 2.0 infrastructure, the IPv6 address for the DNS-AAAA record.

How to change your DNS records - general instructions

Following are the necessary steps to connect your domain to your (new) box - described in general terms. Detailed instructions for the individual domain providers such as Strato, IONOS, etc. can be found in the specific articles linked below.
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  1. Log in to your domain provider:
    Open the website of your domain provider and log in to your account.
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  2. Navigate to the DNS settings:
    In your account, search for the area where you can change DNS settings. This may be named differently depending on the provider, e.g. “DNS Management”, “DNS Settings” or “Zone File Editor”.
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  3. Find the existing A and AAAA records *:
    You should see a list of the current DNS records. Look for the entries marked as “A” (for IPv4) and “AAAA” (for IPv6).
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  4. Edit the records:

    1. For IPv4 and IPv6 servers:

    2. Copy the IP addresses of your box one after the other and change the existing A record to the IPv4 address and add a new AAAA record with the IPv6 address.
      ​

  5. Save and wait:
    Save your changes. It can take a few minutes up to 24 hours for the changes to take effect worldwide.

Different variants with different providers
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💡 Different domain providers use different methods to address the main domain. For example, the @ sign, the asterisk (*) or a completely empty field (as with Raidboxes).
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👉 If you change your DNS entries, use the existing entries as a guide and only edit those that are actually linked to your box. If you have linked a subdomain such as blog.your-domain.com to your box, only change the DNS settings for this subdomain.

How to change your DNS records with your provider

In the following articles you will find detailed and specific instructions for exactly your domain provider; e.g. Strato, IONOS, All-Inkl, etc.
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Connecting a domain to a web space can take up to 48 hours. As soon as the domain is connected correctly, you can move on to the final steps: External domain: DNS check.

Further questions you may have

What are A records and AAAA records?
​When do I need A records and when do I need AAAA records?
​Which DNS entries are relevant?
​Why does it take up to 48 hours for my domain to be visible?

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