Ref: https://learn.cantrill.io/courses/2022818/lectures/45637098

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WWQzOwbth4

• Summary:
• Contents:

Registering vs hosting DNS domains

• DNS Domain Registrar
  • Lets you purchase domains
  • Liaise with TLD registries (e.g. Verisign's .com)
  • e.g. Amazon R53 Registered Domains, Namecheap, GoDaddy, Hover…
• DNS Hosting Provider
  • Hosts the DNS zone for the domain
  • Operates NS(s), which host the ZoneFiles
  • Can manage the content of zones
  • e.g. Amazon R53 Hosted Zones, Hover…
• ‼️ Registering a DNS domain is NOT the same as hosting it!!
  • DNS domain registrars and hosting providers could be different companies, or could be the same company (e.g. Amazon R53 or Hover can do both)

Steps to register the DNS domain cats.com

1. Customer wants to purchase cats.com domain.
   • Registrar checks that domain is available
   • If it's available, customer pays registrar for the domain (normally yearly fee)
2. If registrar is the same company as the hosting provider, company creates a DNS Zone and provisions NSs
3. If they are different companies, registrar asks the hosting provider for NS information. Hosting provider creates NSs and supplies NS information to registrar.
   • ❗ This can be a manual process if the registrar and hosting provider are separate companies! You (customer) would need to provide this info between them!
4. Registrar supplies NS information to Verisign's .com TLD registry
5. TLD registry adds details of cats.com NSs to the .com ZoneFile
6. cats.com domain is now live
   • TLD's NSs point to cats.com NSs
   • ‼️ If addresses of cats.com NSs change, the entry in the TLD NSs needs to be updated!