Are we getting jerked around by our new webhost???

A little background..

Where I work at we currently have our website and email hosted by company X, and as part of our yellow page ad listings package, will have our website and email hosted by AT&T.



ATT has our template website ready to go live, and wants us to let them handle our DNS instead of Register.com, which we currently have handling our DNS.



I`m pretty computer savvy, and have a basic grip on how DNS works and all that, but no pro by any means, so I`m looking for outside opinions on the situation.



Making sure I understand how webhosting and resolution works, heres an example of how it works in my mind, correct me if I`m wrong:

I type in whereIwanttogodotcom *damn forum rules for newbs, but I understand why*, and this gets resolved by a DNS server who says, OK, my records show that to get the website you requested you need to go to the webserver with xxx.xx.xxx.xxx ip address, let me check with the webserver, one moment please... *lol* So, the DNS server says, hey webserver, does whereIwanttogodotcom mean anything to you? and the webserver says yes, I know about that website and says hook me up.

Thats the basics of it right? with the mailserver handled by the mx record section and much more, which is where I know I`m headed for new territory..







So to get on with the story, ATT doesnt seem to want to give me the DNS numbers so I can update it with register.com to point to the new website they created for us. He says that in a sense, ATT is the wholesaler of register.com or of a DNS service, and register.com is a retailer of DNS services. He`s given me what he says is the actual IP address of the server, but says he doesnt have/cant give me the two required DNS numbers? He also says that if he doesnt set up the DNS numbers with ATT instead of another provider, our email service with them will not work... He even went and changed the contact information under Registrar at register.com to to his email address instead of ours.



So is this guy messing with us, or clueless, or is it just me that doesnt understand whats going on? Any input would be most appreciated! Thanks!

I think he's trying to be more than he really is...



Seems a little funny, but most should readily give you the hostname of their DNS server(s) if THEY want to host your zone file records so you can tell the original registar and their DNS servers will respond with, "Hey, I don't have the DNS records, but I know who does [ATT's DNS server]".



Anyway, if they gave you the IP address of the webserver, it seems they are leaving it up to you to update the DNS records at your original registar. Just remember to have the root of your domain (normally designated by an @ symbol) AND an A or host record of www both pointing to the new IP address they have given you...

Explain the part below please??



Just remember to have the root of your domain (normally designated by an @ symbol) AND an A or host record of www both pointing to the new IP address they have given you...[/QUOTE]



I dont recall anything about domain roots or host records when I was in our register.com account looking at our settings and options.. I just saw the primary and secondary DNS settings and an option to change them?

I assume by domain root, you mean like devshed.com versus forums.devshed.com which is an additional domain based off the primary?



Another question.. I`m currently perusing our register.com account, and I see the following:

ADVANCED TECHNICAL SETTINGS

You are unable to modify these settings because you are no longer on Register.com's DNS. Please click "Restore Default DNS Server settings" if you would like to switch back to Register.com's DNS.



I presume this is because our DNS is currently set to our current webhost`s DNS, ns1.phpxxxxxxx.xxx and ns2.phpxxxxxx.xxxxx correct?

Just a little confused here...Who currently has your DNS settings? ATT? Register.com? And, is ATT requiring you to have them host your DNS records?

After much digging, hair pulling, phone calls, and getting the run around, our ATT web rep basically threatened us with either let them handle everything or get put back into query, which is pretty much like starting over from scratch.... After some debate, we just went with them, and have no plans to renew next year.. To answer your question PWD, ATT had to have/host everything as they put it, for their system to work.. They have to be the registrar, host, dns and email.



Let this be a warning to all...