Does anyone have any specific recommendations (or warnings) when it comes to DNS hosting? A friend and I are looking for a paid service to handle DNS for a few of our domains, and in taking a peek around the web, there aren’t a whole slew of companies competing for that slice of the market. The ones I’ve found are EasyDNS, ZoneEdit, Nettica, DNS Made Easy, and World Wide DNS, but the first thing that jumped out at me as I tried to compare them was that none of them has made it easy to find out exactly what I’d be getting if I were to sign up. (How many records would I be allowed in each domain? What does the web-based interface look like?) Based on just the information available on their websites, I’d be inclined to give Nettica a shot; the price can’t be beat (especially for bulk services), and they seem professional enough.

If anyone has any personal experience, with any of these DNS hosts or any others, I’d love to hear it.

Comments

I’ve used EveryDNS (http://everynds.net) a number of times, and been very please — you can’t argue with free, can you?

• Posted by: Jacob on Jun 27, 2004, 7:04 PM

I’m using ZoneEdit… and you don’t have to pay unless you want more than 5 domains or your DNS traffic exceeds a-very-high-number-I-can’t-remember.

I’m very pleased with the service so far… pleased enough to think about paying for it as a token of apreciation.

• Posted by: Sebastian on Jun 27, 2004, 7:41 PM

Dynamic Dns provides custom dns for $25/yr/domain (discounts for > 5). I use there free service and they seem ok. Also, mail redirect, backup mx, http redirect, tc.

http://www.dyndns.org/services/custom/features.html

• Posted by: Lee on Jun 27, 2004, 8:31 PM

Another vote for dyndns. I’ve been leeching off their free dns service for years. I just walked a non-techie friend of mine through setting up Custom DNS with them, it was a cinch.

• Posted by: Charles on Jun 27, 2004, 9:52 PM

I’ve been using easyDNS for several years now. There is no limit to the number of entries you can create per domain. They also provide backup mx hosts, which will forward mail to your main smtp server when it comes back online.

But the best thing about them is the support. You get real people on the telephone when you call. They answer your emails fairly promptly. And they have always known what they were doing.

No one I’ve recommended use easyDNS has regretted it.

• Posted by: Luke on Jun 28, 2004, 6:53 AM

I’d second the suggestion for EveryDNS that Jacob made. It’s great, and if you donate 15$ they’ll lift the restrictions (which aren’t that bad in the first place).

• Posted by: Thomas Sibley on Jun 28, 2004, 10:15 AM

One thing that a friend of mine (savvy in the ways of web hosting) showed me was that GoDaddy has a function called TotalDNS that they offer free to all domains registered with them. I didn’t see any limitations on its usage and you can always transfer your domain to them to take advantage of their low fees. I’ve got 15+ domains registered there and have never had a single problem.

There’s more information out there.

Hope that helps.

• Posted by: Bill Brown on Jun 29, 2004, 1:18 AM

I use Nettica and am very pleased with the price and performance. My hosting clients and my company website used by offshore outsourcing consultants in america and overseas have also given them favorable reviews. Rock on Nettica!

• Posted by: Chris Hearn on Jun 30, 2004, 10:38 AM
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