# Web geeks - domain registration and MX record question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 25, 2013, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/web-geeks-domain-registration-and-mx-record-question/653928 "2013-03-25T16:45:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![StrangerThanFiction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f05b48/32.png) [@StrangerThanFiction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StrangerThanFiction)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2013, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/web-geeks-domain-registration-and-mx-record-question/653928/1 "2013-03-25T16:45:17Z")
My company has a very small 4-page site with almost no content. We are a small private company that does not provide service to the public, so we have no need for the site, and would like to remove it. It’s hosted by Yahoo. Our email **was** also hosted by Yahoo, using our domain name, however we have since moved to a hosted Exchange provider. During the migration, we had to have the MX record(s) changed to point to the new email server. So here’s the question: can we terminate our web hosting contract with Yahoo without causing email problems for ourselves? I don’t really understand where the MX record lives and how Yahoo may or may not still be involved in the routing of our email. I’m having a really hard time searching for answers online, because it seems like I’m the only person in the history of mankind who wants to take down a website. ---
**Author:** ![rat\_avatar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rat_avatar/32/255_2.png) [@rat\_avatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rat_avatar)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2013, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/web-geeks-domain-registration-and-mx-record-question/653928/2 "2013-03-25T16:51:19Z")
> [@StrangerThanFiction](#): > > My company has a very small 4-page site with almost no content. We are a small private company that does not provide service to the public, so we have no need for the site, and would like to remove it. It’s hosted by Yahoo. Our email **was** also hosted by Yahoo, using our domain name, however we have since moved to a hosted Exchange provider. During the migration, we had to have the MX record(s) changed to point to the new email server. So here’s the question: can we terminate our web hosting contract with Yahoo without causing email problems for ourselves? I don’t really understand where the MX record lives and how Yahoo may or may not still be involved in the routing of our email. I’m having a really hard time searching for answers online, because it seems like I’m the only person in the history of mankind who wants to take down a website. Open a command line run “nslookup” It will bring up a prompt like this \> enter: set q=ns Then enter your domain name and hit enter This will bring up lots of lines but several will say [yourdomain.com](http://yourdomain.com) nameserver = [ns.otherdomainname.com](http://ns.otherdomainname.com) If the nameservers are not pointed at yahoo you should be fine. Typically with a small site as this it will be hosted at the registrar you use. ---
**Author:** ![StrangerThanFiction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f05b48/32.png) [@StrangerThanFiction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StrangerThanFiction)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2013, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/web-geeks-domain-registration-and-mx-record-question/653928/3 "2013-03-25T20:09:02Z")
There are two name servers listed, which are [yns1.yahoo.com](http://yns1.yahoo.com) and [yns2.yahoo.com](http://yns2.yahoo.com). According to Yahoo, their registrar is Melbourne IT. I’ll do some poking around there and see what I can find out. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2013, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/web-geeks-domain-registration-and-mx-record-question/653928/4 "2013-03-25T23:07:07Z")
> [@StrangerThanFiction](#): > > There are two name servers listed, which are [yns1.yahoo.com](http://yns1.yahoo.com) and [yns2.yahoo.com](http://yns2.yahoo.com). According to Yahoo, their registrar is Melbourne IT. I’ll do some poking around there and see what I can find out. Thanks! I think it boils down to this. Web hosting, as a service, has a different technical and management bases than domain service. You could theoretically get webhosting and domain service from two different providers. You could drop webhosting and keep domain service, which would allow you to retain your domain and set the MX record to whatever you prefer. However, if you got them both from Yahoo, and it’s a package deal, and Yahoo won’t allow you to drop webhosting while retaining domain service, you have a problem. You have to either pry the two services apart in your current contract so you can drop one, or you have to pry your domain out of Yahoo’s registry holding and get someone else to register it for you, and then drop Yahoo entirely. I think. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/web-geeks-domain-registration-and-mx-record-question/653928/5 "2013-03-26T00:16:23Z")
Ask the Exchange provider if you can use their nameservers, and ask them to add a MX record for you. Then change the nameserver via the registrar account. A registrar had info on the domain name and what nameservers it uses. A nameserver is going to, generally, have information on a domain’s primary and secondary nameservers (creates some sort of loop of trust), plus any other IP addresses a domain might use…subdomains. You do not need a nameserver to assign IP addresses to root and www, but you do need a nameserver to have an MX record that points to your new host, so servers know where mail should be sent when looking for @domain.com. Your new host should be able to provide the nameserver for you to use. ---
**Author:** ![Space\_Vegetable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@Space\_Vegetable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Space_Vegetable)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/web-geeks-domain-registration-and-mx-record-question/653928/6 "2013-03-26T04:51:13Z")
Your registrar Melbourne IT may also let you use their name servers, if the Exchange provider won’t. [Directions are here](http://new.melbourneit.com.au/help-centre/faqs/how-do-i-manage-advanced-dns/). > [@ZipperJJ](#): > > You do not need a nameserver to assign IP addresses to root and www, That doesn’t match my understanding. I think the process works like this. Say a computer wants to look up [www.example.com](http://www.example.com). It already knows an IP address to look up .com domains, so it asks a DNS server in charge of .com to provide info on [example.com](http://example.com). The DNS server provides the name and IP for two or more servers in charge of [example.com](http://example.com) and all its subdomains. (This is info you’ve provided to your registrar. In your case, you told Melbourne IT to send everyone to Yahoo’s name servers.) The computer then sends a message to one of the name servers specified, asking for the IP of [www.example.com](http://www.example.com). It might be the same as [example.com](http://example.com) or not. For mail. the process is similar, but the query to the name server asks for an MX record first. That gives a list of the domain names handling incoming email for that domain. Then it picks one of the names on the list and looks up its IP address as above. So for instance, mail for [example.com](http://example.com) might go to [incoming.examplemailcompany.net](http://incoming.examplemailcompany.net). A computer wishing to send email to [bob@example.com](mailto:bob@example.com) would ask the server in charge of .com for the IP of the name server that handles [example.com](http://example.com). Then it would send a query to that IP address, asking for the MX record for [example.com](http://example.com). That would list [incoming.examplemailcompany.net](http://incoming.examplemailcompany.net) as one of the mail servers. The computer would then send a message to a name server in change of all .net domains, asking for the IP address of the name server for [examplemailcompany.net](http://examplemailcompany.net). Then it would ask that latter name server for the IP of [incoming.examplemailcompany.net](http://incoming.examplemailcompany.net). Finally, it would connect to that IP to send the mail. ---
**Author:** ![StrangerThanFiction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f05b48/32.png) [@StrangerThanFiction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StrangerThanFiction)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/web-geeks-domain-registration-and-mx-record-question/653928/7 "2013-03-26T12:08:06Z")
Thanks guys, I’ve learned quite a bit. As you said, since our domain registrar is sending traffic to Yahoo, Yahoo is simply redirecting it to our Exchange servers. Our Exchange provider does have nameservers that I can use, and I’ve learned how to add our domain to that account to get those nameservers to resolve to their Exchange servers. My plan is to leave the domain registration with Melbourne IT and just point that registration to the new nameservers. This will essentially cut Yahoo out of the loop, and once a week or so has passed, I believe I can cancel my contract with them and suffer no downtime. Now I have another question: Yahoo Business help says this about the transfer: > [@Yahoo!](#): > > If you’re certain you want to leave Yahoo!, but you plan to keep your domain name, we strongly recommend transferring your domain to another registrar. Why does Yahoo care if I keep my domain registration with Melbourne IT or not? Is this a technical recommendation, or is this the same as the Pork Producer’s Coalition strongly recommending I eat six pounds of bacon per day? ---
**Author:** ![yoyodyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a9a28c/32.png) [@yoyodyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yoyodyne)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/web-geeks-domain-registration-and-mx-record-question/653928/8 "2013-03-26T12:46:58Z")
They just mean that if Yahoo is your registrar. They don’t want to be in the registration business without the associated hosting. ---
**Author:** ![StrangerThanFiction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f05b48/32.png) [@StrangerThanFiction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StrangerThanFiction)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/web-geeks-domain-registration-and-mx-record-question/653928/9 "2013-03-26T12:58:49Z")
Ahh thanks.