How to Point Your Domain to Hostinap Hosting

If you purchased your domain from another registrar (like GoDaddy, Namecheap, or Google Domains) but bought your hosting from Hostinap, you need to connect the two. There are two ways to do this: changing Nameservers or changing A Records. We highly recommend Method 1.

Method 1: Change Nameservers (Recommended)

Changing your nameservers transfers full DNS control to Hostinap. This allows cPanel to automatically manage your email records, subdomains, and SSL certificates for you.

1. Log in to the company where you purchased your domain (e.g. GoDaddy).
2. Find the DNS Management or Nameservers section for your domain.
3. Select the option to use Custom Nameservers.
4. Enter the Hostinap nameservers provided in your welcome email. They typically look like this:
   • ns1.hostinap.com
   • ns2.hostinap.com
5. Save the changes.

Note: If you already have active email hosting with Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace connected to your current DNS provider, do NOT use this method unless you know how to copy those MX records over to cPanel first. Use Method 2 instead.

Method 2: Update A Records (Advanced)

Use this method if you want to keep your DNS management at your current registrar (or Cloudflare) and just point the website traffic to Hostinap.

1. Log in to your Hostinap cPanel and locate your Shared IP Address in the right-hand sidebar under General Information. Copy this IP address.
2. Log in to your domain registrar's DNS manager.
3. Locate the A Record for your root domain (often represented by an @ symbol or left blank).
4. Change the destination IP address to the Hostinap IP you copied.
5. Locate the A Record or CNAME for www and ensure it points to the root domain.
6. Save the changes.

Wait for DNS Propagation

Whenever you change Nameservers or A records, it takes time for internet service providers globally to update their phonebooks. This is called DNS Propagation. It typically takes 2 to 24 hours.

To check the status of your propagation globally, go to whatsmydns.net, enter your domain name, select NS or A from the dropdown, and click Search. Once the map turns entirely green with the correct values, your domain is fully pointed to Hostinap.