LoadDNS

LoadDNS now fully supports SRV and record level TTLs

adam@loadmail.com — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 18:26:00 GMT

Just a quick update for those using LoadDNS.

The most recent update of LoadDNS has full SRV record support in the Admin UI. (LoadDNS had supported SRV records via the LoadAPI for some time now )

Newer internet protocols such as SIP and XMPP often require SRV support from clients.

Also this update added support for record level TTL's, again this had been a feature of the API for a while now but due to popular demand we pushed it into the Admin UI, its getting crowded in there

Please let us know if you have any questions about any of the new features. We will be updating the support documentation to reflect these changes over the coming days.

What is a CNAME?

jan@load.com — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 19:20:00 GMT

CNAME-records are domain name aliases. Often computers on the Internet have multiple functions. To mask this, CNAME-records can be used to give a single computer multiple names (aliases). For example computer "xyz.com" may be both a web-server and an ftp-server, so two CNAME-records are defined: "www.xyz.com" = "xyz.com" and "ftp.xyz.com" = "xyz.com". A CNAME-record should always point to an A-record to avoid circular references.

The most popular use of the CNAME-record type is to provide access to a web-server using both the standard "www.domain.com" and "domain.com" (without the www). This is usually done by creating an A-record for the short name (without www), and a CNAME-record for the www name pointing to the short name.

What is an A record?

jan@load.com — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 19:19:00 GMT

An 'A record' tells a DNS server what specific IP address to map for a host name. It is the most common type of DNS resource record. For example, you can set www.yourname.com to point to a specific IP Address.

What is an MX record?

jan@load.com — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 19:18:00 GMT

The MX record tells other mail servers the A record and where the mail for your domain should go.

A mail exchanger (MX) is a server setup to accept mail for your domain name and holds it for delivering to your users or passes to another mail server. MX records have 'Preference Settings' which tell other mail servers which server to try to deliver your mail to first. The lowest preference setting is the first server to be tried. If it is not available, mail deliveries will go to the next lowest preference.

DNS Query Tracking is Easy with LoadDNS

nick@load.com — Sun, 08 Apr 2007 01:53:00 GMT

One of the great things I truly love about LoadDNS is Query Tracking. Naturally, we check out our competitors on a regular to get an idea of what their current pricing is, what new services they are offering, and to simply do an apples-to-apples comparison. Surprisingly, what we've found is most of our competitors in the DNS market have no idea what their customer query counts are, nor are they in a position to provide any relevant statistics to the customer. Now, my immediate reaction is, "Wow, I'd go out of my way and totally take advantage of these companies if I was a user." However, my second reaction is also, "I wonder if these guys are running their DNS out of their garage."

So, here are some questions you should ask yourself before choosing a Hosted DNS Provider:

Can this provider deliver consistent and reliable DNS Query Statistics?
How long has this provider been offering DNS services?
How many geographic regions does this provider service?
How easy is it to manage my DNS records if I'm not a DNS expert?

In reality, most businesses do not truly know the importance of DNS and the role it plays in online success and choose to use the default DNS server provided with their domain name registration. If you're serious about your online identity and your ability to reach your customers anywhere, anytime, then do your research and understand what you're getting with your DNS host.

Reverse DNS One of the Many Benefits of Hosted DNS with Load

nick@load.com — Sun, 08 Apr 2007 01:38:00 GMT

Recently we've been getting more and more requests to provide Reverse DNS to a number of service providers including ISPs, Web Hosts, and numerous design firms. In a DNS environment, it is common for users or applications to request a Reverse Lookup of a host name, given the IP address, allowing providers to determine the legitimacy of Web/Mail traffic.

While Reverse DNS is not actively marketed on the LoadDNS site yet (site redesign Coming Soon), Load.com does offer the service to numerous customers currently and the list continues to grow rapidly. As with all of our hosted dns services, Reverse DNS is very simple to set up and even easier to manage with our web-based interface.

LoadDNS Gaining Greater Success with Customers

nick@load.com — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 07:01:00 GMT

It has been nearly five (5) years since the initial launch of the LoadDNS service and we continue to see great growth and acceptance of outsourced managed DNS services. More and more customers have started to migrate domain name manage to third-party providers and LoadDNS continues to gain a stronghold and greater acceptance in the Internet community and amongst network administrators.

Now, I realize this sounds like Load.com being very bragadocious (thank you Dane Cook), but when all of your customers are telling you how much they love your DNS service and how easy it is to use, it's very difficult not to get a big head and get excited. But enough about that...

In the near future, LoadDNS will be modifying it's billing structure to make it even more cost effective for current customers to add/delete and manage domain names, but it will make it even more compelling for website managers, ISPs and network administrators to move their domain names to LoadDNS. It's all part of our global domination and desire to offer a great service that just makes sense to customers. So, keep an eye out later this year for some exciting additions to the LoadDNS service.