# Domain registrars and DNS server hosters



## wlanboy (May 22, 2013)

My main domain registrar is Namecheap: https://www.namecheap.com/

The service is good. I did not need a single ticket because the live support solved my view little problems I had. The web frontend looks quite old but it is working and - after you you know where to find something - easy to use.

I really like the batch editor.

I moved my mail server. Might be quite a hassle but with help of the batch editor I was able to change all MX entries of all domains with a single form.

Last thing to mention: No ads and no sales emails.

For a test project I have first tried internetbs.net to register a  domain. They are really cheap but their dns servers are ... not that good. Their webfront end is quite bad too. I switched to Hurricane Electric (dns.he.net) to have fast and reliable dns servers.

HE is really one of the best free dns server hosters.

Any other recommendations for domain registrars or dns server hosters?


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## Pmadd (May 22, 2013)

I think google has a public dns that may be worth looking into


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## HalfEatenPie (May 22, 2013)

wlanboy said:


> For a test project I have first tried internetbs.net to register a  domain. They are really cheap but their dns servers are ... not that good. Their webfront end is quite bad too. I switched to Hurricane Electric (dns.he.net) to have fast and reliable dns servers.


 

Huh, personally I've used internet.bs's DNS services and my domains have been perfectly fine with them.  Could you please clarify why it's not that good? Like what specifically about it?


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## vanarp (May 22, 2013)

Pmadd said:


> I think google has a public dns that may be worth looking into


 

*@**wlanboy* is actually talking about DNS Hosting for domains (aka Name Servers to enter/edit DNS records) but not Public DNS servers.


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## Ash (May 22, 2013)

I use namecheap too and like it, but i try to use cloudflare wherever possible now, even if i dont need to route through there network.


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## vanarp (May 22, 2013)

wlanboy said:


> Any other recommendations for domain registrars or dns server hosters?


 

Earlier I tried many different places for DNS hosting (HE/Rackspace/ClouDNS/ZonEdit...).

Ever since I found *Rage4*, I am quite happy using them for any domain I register lately. I think the free limits are good enough for my needs and wouldn't mind paying when required.

By the way I do not remember seeing @gbshouse here yet


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## mikho (May 22, 2013)

Most of my domains are registered with namecheap and I use their dns servers for most of those domains.


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## NodeDeals (May 22, 2013)

I normally use cloudflare for most of my sites. But I also recommend rage4. I heard about dns4.pro but haven't tried it yet. It looks cool though


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## drmike (May 22, 2013)

I'll second the Rage4 recommendation.  Good products, reasonably priced or free depending on your traffic/use.


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## wdq (May 22, 2013)

I switched to Rage4 a month (from CloudFlare) or so and I haven't looked back. It has all of the DNS features I needed from CloudFlare, and more, all without all of that extra stuff that made CloudFlare a little too complicated.


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## Dylan (May 22, 2013)

If for whatever reason you don't like Internet.bs, you should try NameSilo. They're similar in some ways, though US-based. Consistently low prices, no trying to sell addons (even Namecheap does that), and no charging extra for things that should be included like private WHOIS (again, even Namecheap charges for that after the first year).

Namecheap's not bad, and I used to use them, but I can't recommend them anymore when you can get the same thing for less.


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## wlanboy (May 22, 2013)

HalfEatenPie said:


> Huh, personally I've used internet.bs's DNS services and my domains have been perfectly fine with them.  Could you please clarify why it's not that good? Like what specifically about it?


Their DNS servers update not well on my internet provider. After two days of waiting I switched to HE and the domain was available within 3 minutes.


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## gbshouse (May 23, 2013)

Thanks for enjoying Rage4. We are doing our best.


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## HalfEatenPie (May 23, 2013)

gbshouse said:


> Thanks for enjoying Rage4. We are doing our best.


 

As a first-time user a few months ago, it was really difficult for me to get the most basic of information (e.g. what nameservers should my domains point, etc.).  But after that everything became so much better.  Thanks!


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## drmike (May 23, 2013)

gbshouse said:


> Thanks for enjoying Rage4. We are doing our best.


Glad to see @gbshouse on vpsBoard!


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## tallship (May 26, 2013)

@wlanboy, if you don't have the global presence of servers yourself to *implement your own, self-hosted DNS infrastructure* (which is recommendation #1, BTW), then HE.net is certainly a good, no frills provider, as you point out.

The nice thing about HE.net is that they also provide for quality resolution of your in-addr.arpa zones too. There's a limit to the number of zones as is with any of the providers offering free service), but it's more than enough to handle most small enterprises.

I've been using zoneedit.com for well over a decade, for several projects and customers, and slaves; here and there. Boy they sure used to have an ugly interface, but they changed that about 3 or 4 years ago. They were actually one (and still are) of the most fully featured providers after the implosion of ml.org and granitecanyon - for those of you who have actually been breathing long enough to remember those two major, or at least pioneering, players 

A lot of people talk about cloudflare, but I've never used them and I'm not really all that familiar with them, except there was a bunch of less than complimentary mention of them at the old scroogled site I believe.

I tend to steer customers away from places like OpenDNS and UltraDNS, and a few others. I just never cared for the taste in my mouth after working with them - Especially UltraDNS, who I've had some close workings with prior to their major push onto the market back when.

OpenDNS blocks a lot of stuff, so if that's what you're looking for, then she's your girl. More for media hype than anything else, but still a major plus, is that OpenDNS issued a press release announcing this HERE. Anyone who really knows anything about DNS at all can tell you that DNSSEC is garbage trash that doesn't deliver what it supposedly promises to, hasn't protected (and won't) anyone from the types of cache poisoning or the Kaminsky flaw and others that BIND seems to always be vulnerable to, and that that damage from DNS amplification attacks is actually exacerbated and "_amplified_' when DNSSEC is enabled.

DNSCurve = Good, DNSSEC = BAD BAD BAD (And no, I'm not a Bernstein fanboi and I don't like djbdns, but I do agree with him that CNAME RRs are almost always stupid and lame - use a fricken' A record!).

In fact, DNSSEC is about taking away choice and freedom, a product resulting from nefarious and insidious agendas endeared by Paul Vixie, Verisign, the Evil ICANN, WIPO, and others with something to gain at _your expense_, while the DoC and the NTIA push about paper from one desk to the next saying, What, me worry?"

Another point of fact, the only real two Auth DNS Servers out there that have implemented DNSSEC are BIND and Unbound, and only Unbound did a good job IMNSHO. BIND still has proven to be a hole as big as a truck while most of the other daemons out there like PowerDNS or MaraDNS/Deadwood are as secure as a 600 pound danforth anchoring a 6 foot dinghy.

DNSSEC is like a 600 pound gorilla jumping up and down in that dinghy.

Okay, I shouldn't have gone off on that tangent. Sorry about that, but I've been doing DNS since before we actually debuted it in 1985, and some things just sicken me.

Back to the topic at hand then...

A couple of fav commercial DNS Providers of mine are, and have been for years, afraid.org and no-ip.com. For both of them I can vouch that they are stable, reliable, and responsive services, and give them a A+ rating 

dyndns.orgdisappeared unceremoniously a year or two ago, being replaced, probably with just a rebranding campaign, by dyn.com - they were supported in all those crappy home routers (people should use pfSense instead), so they prolly felt they could make such a move.

I personally have no problem recommending afraid.org, no-ip.com and zoneedit.com without any hesitation, and HE.net for at least their reverse DNS services - if you don't have your own network of DNS servers to use, of course. And even then, you can get slave services from them.

I hope that helps 

Kindest regards,


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## Ivan (May 26, 2013)

I'm going to say InternetBS.


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## tallship (May 26, 2013)

Ivan said:


> I'm going to say InternetBS.


For DNS?


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## RootNerds (May 26, 2013)

We like using dns4.pro. While we were using Cloudflare before, we're using dns4.pro more and more...



tallship said:


> DNSSEC is like a 600 pound gorilla jumping up and down in that dinghy.


We like using dns4.pro for this job. We were switching to them from Cloudflare due to the missing dnssec.


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## vanarp (May 26, 2013)

RootNerds said:


> We like using dns4.pro. While we were using Cloudflare before, we're using dns4.pro more and more...
> 
> 
> We like using dns4.pro for this job. We were switching to them from Cloudflare due to the missing dnssec.


Thanks for the mention of DNS4. looks interesting.


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## peterw (Sep 4, 2013)

I am in the need to register some co.uk and .dk domains so I bump this thread.

Does someone know a cheap registrar for this domains or should I stick with InternetBS?



vanarp said:


> Thanks for the mention of DNS4. looks interesting.


Note on their site:



> This project is now co-owned by Prometeus, more infos will be released in the next weeks.


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## tallship (Sep 4, 2013)

peterw said:


> I am in the need to register some co.uk and .dk domains so I bump this thread.
> 
> Does someone know a cheap registrar for this domains...?


I recommend my good friends at http://www.thetrustee.co/

You simply can't find a more dedicated, experienced, and knowledgable staff that supports a greater number of TLDs in a single place IMNSHO.

Give them a try. You'll be glad you did.

Kindest regards,

.


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## blergh (Sep 4, 2013)

tallship said:


> Anyone who really knows anything about DNS at all can tell you that DNSSEC is garbage trash that doesn't deliver what it supposedly promises to, hasn't protected (and won't) anyone from the types of cache poisoning or the Kaminsky flaw and others that BIND seems to always be vulnerable to, and that that damage from DNS amplification attacks is actually exacerbated and "_amplified_' when DNSSEC is enabled.
> 
> DNSCurve = Good, DNSSEC = BAD BAD BAD (And no, I'm not a Bernstein fanboi and I don't like djbdns, but I do agree with him that CNAME RRs are almost always stupid and lame - use a fricken' A record!).
> 
> ...


I lol'd hard.

Exactly how is DNSSEC not a solution to the (now old as-shit) kaminsky bug? The amplification issues are indeed a problem, but not so much a problem with DNSSEC itself but with DNS.

Nice tinfoilhat-talk. Welcome to the Internet, where you have been more or less buttfucked ever since the 90's.

So, elaborate some more about powerdns's recursor & unbound please.


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## peterw (Sep 4, 2013)

blergh said:


> Nice tinfoilhat-talk. Welcome to the Internet, where you have been more or less buttfucked ever since the 90's.
> 
> So, elaborate some more about powerdns's recursor & unbound please.


But a valid argument to not host DNS by yourself if you don't want to.


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## switsys (Sep 4, 2013)

peterw said:


> I am in the need to register some co.uk and .dk domains so I bump this thread.
> 
> Does someone know a cheap registrar for this domains or should I stick with InternetBS?


For co.uk domains:

domainsfoundry.co.uk


For .dk domains:

gratisdns.dk


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