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A domain name is registered with GoDaddy and then nameservers point to my Hostgator account.

Inside the Hostgator account I would like to point the website itself to ns1/ns.linode.com and also set custom MX records for the mail. I have to do this since I can not set MX records inside Godaddy.

In Hostgator I have the option to add A-records and CNAME. In which of the two should the NS1/NS2.linode.com value go?

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  • Nowhere. The domain must be configured at GoDaddy.
    – mailq
    Aug 30, 2011 at 12:56
  • Yes but since I can not set MX records at Godaddy I'm using Hostgator just as a 'container' where I can set separate MX and nameserver values. It was working like this fine before but the HG account got deleted accidently, so I'm trying to restore things.
    – stef
    Aug 30, 2011 at 12:58
  • Why can't you create an MX record at GoDaddy?
    – joeqwerty
    Aug 30, 2011 at 13:32
  • From what I can tell, they don't give you this option. You can only set nameserver values.
    – stef
    Aug 30, 2011 at 13:37
  • Well you can if they host your DNS zone. You need to look for a DNS management page while logged in to your GoDaddy account. Is your DNS zone hosted with GoDaddy?
    – joeqwerty
    Aug 30, 2011 at 13:59

1 Answer 1

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I can't remember for sure what options GoDaddy give you (although I thought they gave you full DNS access), but in any case, I think you're getting confused with NS records - these records point to the servers where the 'actual' DNS records are (A, MX, CNAME, TXT etc).

You need to do one of the following:

  1. Configure the MX on Linode's name servers and get godaddy to point the NS to linode
  2. Get any IP addresses / hostnames from Linode to set up your DNS externally, then configure these with GoDaddy (although you mention this is not possible)
  3. Get any IP addresses / hostnames from Linode to set up your DNS externally, then configure these with hostgator, and get godaddy to point the NS to hostgator

Difficulty/complication increases as you go downwards, in my opinion! Some hosts (not sure about linode) let you configure your DNS records on their name servers, in which case you'll be able to add your MX directly with them and they'll have pre-configured all of the other DNS records for your services with them, which will be ideal.

Hopefully that makes sense.

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