How Domains Work
A domain name like pandadevhub.com is a human-friendly address. Behind it are several parties, and confusing them is the most common source of DNS problems.
The players
| Role | What it does | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Registry | runs a top-level domain (.com, .io, .co.uk) |
Verisign for .com |
| Registrar | sells and renews domains, holds your registration | Cloudflare, Namecheap, Porkbun, GoDaddy |
| DNS host | answers DNS queries for your domain (holds the records) | Cloudflare, your registrar, Route 53 |
| Hosting | runs your website or app | Render, Vercel, a VPS |
The registrar records which nameservers are authoritative for your domain. Whichever provider those nameservers belong to is where you must edit records. If you moved DNS to Cloudflare, edits at your registrar do nothing.
dig +short NS pandadevhub.com # shows who answers for the domain
Buying a domain well
- Choose a short, easy-to-spell name; prefer
.comfor businesses, or a country TLD for local businesses. - Compare renewal prices, not just the first-year price.
- Turn on auto-renew and keep the payment card current: expired domains can be taken by others.
- Enable two-factor authentication and a registrar lock to prevent hijacking.
- WHOIS privacy hides your personal details from public lookups (often free).
Who should own the domain?
When building for clients, the domain should be registered in the client's account (you can be added as a user). If you register it for them, document it and transfer it to them. A business that does not control its own domain can lose its website and email overnight.
Check yourself
- What is the difference between a registrar and a DNS host?
- How do you find out where to edit a domain's DNS records?
- Why should clients own their domains?
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