Skip to main content

Manage a domain in your account

Every domain registered with DomainPilot has its own settings page in your account, split into tabs. This guide follows those tabs one by one: checking the domain's status, editing its DNS records, changing its nameservers, keeping the owner details correct, renewing it and getting the transfer code if you want to move it elsewhere.

Open a domain​

  1. Sign in to your DomainPilot account (choose Sign in at the top of the DomainPilot website).
  2. Open Menu and choose Domains & SSL.
  3. Choose Manage next to the domain. To go straight to its DNS records, choose DNS instead.

The page title is the domain name, for example example.com, with its status badge and an All domains button at the top. Below are five tabs: Details, Nameservers, Contact details, Renewal & transfer and DNS.

Changes on most tabs are sensitive, so a Confirm it's you page may open first. Enter your Password (and the Code from your app if two-step sign-in is on) and choose Continue. You return to the tab with what you typed filled back in; choose the save button again.

Details​

The Details tab is a summary:

  • Status and Expires, with renews automatically when automatic renewal is on. Renewal opens the Renewal & transfer tab.
  • Nameservers currently in use. Change opens the Nameservers tab.
  • Transfer lock: when On, the domain cannot be moved to another provider without the transfer code.
  • Privacy: when On, your contact details are hidden in the public WHOIS, the directory of domain owners.
  • Registered: the date the domain was registered.

Quick links on the right lead to DNS records, Contact details, Renew or transfer and Find another domain. For background, see Domain privacy and lock.

DNS​

DNS records tell the internet where your website, email and other services are. If you are new to them, read DNS records explained first.

The DNS tab shows a table of the domain's records with their Type, Name, Value and TTL (how long other servers may keep a copy of the answer). In the Name column, @ means the domain itself. Use the Filter by name, value or type box to find a record.

Add a record​

  1. Choose Add record at the top of the table.
  2. Under Add a record, choose the Type: A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, TXT or CAA.
  3. Enter the Name: @ for the domain itself, or a name like www or mail.
  4. Enter the Value, for example an IPv4 address such as 203.0.113.10 for an A record.
  5. Choose a TTL, from 5 minutes to 1 day.
  6. For an MX record, set the Priority (MX only). Lower numbers are tried first.
  7. Choose Add record.

The page confirms "Record added. It can take a few minutes to start working."

Edit or delete a record​

  • Choose Edit next to a record, change it in the form below the table, then choose Save record. Cancel leaves it unchanged.
  • Choose Delete next to a record and confirm. Anything that uses the record stops working, so check twice before deleting MX or TXT records used by email.

Records of other types show Managed by us instead of buttons.

If records cannot be edited here​

Depending on the domain, the DNS tab may show one of two messages instead of the table:

  • Editing DNS records in the account is coming soon. Choose Ask for a DNS change and send the team the record you need (type, name and value). The team makes the change for you.
  • The domain uses other nameservers, so its DNS records are managed with that provider. Choose See nameservers to check or change them.

Nameservers​

Nameservers decide which provider answers for all of the domain's DNS. See Nameservers explained.

  1. Open the Nameservers tab.
  2. Enter the nameservers your provider gave you in Nameserver 1 and Nameserver 2. Nameserver 3 and Nameserver 4 are optional.
  3. Choose Save nameservers.

At least two nameservers are needed. Changes can take up to 24 hours to reach everyone. If the domain does not use DomainPilot's nameservers and your website or email is with DomainPilot, the tab offers Use DomainPilot nameservers to switch back in one step.

warning

When you change nameservers, the records stored at the old provider stop being used. Recreate your email records at the new provider first.

Contact details​

The Domain owner form holds the details the registry keeps for the domain. They must be correct: the owner receives the emails that confirm changes and transfers.

  1. Open Contact details and update the fields. The Country code uses two letters, such as US, and the phone number needs its country code.
  2. Leave Use these details for the admin, tech and billing contacts too ticked to keep all contacts the same.
  3. Choose Save contact details.

The registry may email the owner to confirm a change of name or email. The Other contacts panel shows the Admin, Tech and Billing contacts and notes that changing the owner's name or email can start a 60-day transfer lock at some registries.

Renewal & transfer​

The Renewal panel shows when the domain Expires and its Renewal price.

  • Turn on automatic renewal: the domain is renewed before it expires and you receive the invoice, paid automatically if automatic payments are on.
  • Turn off automatic renewal: you renew it yourself before it expires, or it stops working.
  • Renew for 1 year now appears when the domain is active or expired, and opens the payment page for a one-year renewal.

See Domain renewals and expiry.

To move the domain to another provider, choose Email me the transfer code under Transfer to another provider. The transfer code (also called EPP or auth code) is sent to the domain owner's email address and is never shown on the page. Most registries do not allow a transfer in the first 60 days after registration or a change of owner. See Transfer a domain.

At DomainPilot

Every domain registered with DomainPilot includes DNS management with no extra fees, free WHOIS privacy protection and a domain lock against unauthorized transfers.

Did this article help you?