Overview
When you add a new domain to the VergeCloud User Panel, one of the first and most important tasks is confirming that your DNS settings are correct. Proper DNS management determines whether your website loads, whether email services function, and whether external systems can communicate with your domain. This guide walks you through each stage in a practical, easy to understand manner so you can complete your domain setup without any confusion.
1. Verifying A Records and IP Addresses
Once your domain is listed inside the VergeCloud panel, the first thing you should do is check the A record. The A record tells the internet where your website is hosted by mapping your domain name to the IP address of your web server.
Open the DNS Records section in your VergeCloud User Panel and locate the entry that represents the root of your domain. Make sure the IP address shown here is the same IP address provided by your hosting company. If you recently migrated to a new server, this is the step where you confirm the new IP. Any mismatch will cause your visitors to see an error page or experience a complete failure to connect. If you notice that the A record does not match your server’s actual address, correct it immediately.
Accurate A record configuration ensures that incoming traffic reaches the correct hosting environment. It is essentially the foundation of your DNS setup, and the rest of your configuration depends on this being correct.
2. Defining Additional DNS Records
After the A record is confirmed, the next step is setting up your additional
DNS records. These may include MX records for email, CNAME records for subdomains, TXT records for verification or security purposes, and other record types depending on your infrastructure.
If your hosting service uses a control panel such as cPanel or DirectAdmin, many DNS entries may already exist there. You can request a complete list of DNS records from your hosting provider and recreate them inside VergeCloud if needed. This is important when transferring domains or when your hosting service expects specific configurations for mail, authentication or application services.
Organisations that manage their own DNS servers usually have a documented DNS structure. In this case, open your server configuration and copy the required entries into the Records Management section under the CDN Product in VergeCloud. This helps maintain a consistent DNS environment when switching between systems.
If you prefer to operate your own nameservers for branding or internal control, VergeCloud also allows you to use custom nameservers. The nameserver customisation feature makes it possible to keep your existing DNS structure while still benefiting from VergeCloud services.
3. Updating Nameservers
After confirming that all records are added correctly, the next important step is updating your
nameservers at your registrar. Your registrar is the company where you purchased your domain name, such as GoDaddy, BigRock or Name. com. This step is what activates VergeCloud as the authoritative DNS for your domain.
Log in to your registrar, find the section where DNS or nameserver settings are located, and replace the existing nameservers with the ones that appear in your VergeCloud panel. The order of nameservers does not matter, but both addresses must be entered exactly as displayed. Once saved, the changes will begin to propagate across global DNS systems.
4. Important Notes and Troubleshooting Guidance
DNS updates do not take effect instantly. Depending on your domain extension, you may need to wait for a certain period before the changes are fully visible worldwide. Most common extensions such as dot com and dot org complete propagation within approximately five hours. Other domain extensions may require up to forty eight hours. During this window, some users may reach your old DNS settings while others may already receive the updated ones.
If your VergeCloud dashboard shows a message such as Pending NS Change, it simply means that global DNS servers have not yet confirmed your new nameserver settings. You can check the status at any moment using free tools such as dig or nslookup from your command line. Websites such as DNS Checker and WhatsMyDNS provide a visual map that shows how far your update has propagated.
Once the global DNS network recognises your VergeCloud nameservers, your domain will automatically switch to Active status inside the dashboard. You do not need to trigger anything manually.
If your website still does not load correctly even after full propagation, revisit the DNS Records page and verify that your A record, MX entries and any CNAME relationships are correct. A small spelling mistake or an incorrect IP address is often the reason behind loading issues.
Keeping a backup of your original DNS configuration before making changes is always a wise idea. In case you accidentally remove a required entry, you can restore it quickly without relying on memory.
Should you need assistance at any stage, VergeCloud Support can review your DNS setup, verify propagation status or help identify missing entries.
This structured approach ensures that your domain is fully and correctly configured in VergeCloud and that all essential services continue to function smoothly.